Bruins Hoping Pastrnak Gets Krejci Going After Lineup Shuffle
BOSTON (CBS) -- David Pastrnak leads the Bruins with 18 goals and trails only Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby for the NHL lead.
Some coaches would be hesitant to change anything about Pastrnak for fear of taking him out of his comfort zone. But most coaches aren't behind the bench of a team that's 26th in scoring (2.31 goals per game) and has scored two or fewer goals in 20 of 29 games.
Bruins coach Claude Julien had no choice Sunday, with the Bruins coming off a 4-1 loss to the last-place Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, but to juggle the lineup in what he called a "whole overhaul" in an effort to get the Bruins' offense going.
The overhaul included the shift of Pastrnak to a line with center David Krejci and Tim Schaller. David Backes moved from Krejci's line to the coveted spot on right wing with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Ryan Spooner shifted to center on the third line with Danton Heinen on his left and a rotation of Austin Czarnik and Jimmy Hayes on his right. Riley Nash slid down to become the fourth-line center with Dominic Moore moving to left wing and Noel Acciari maintaining his spot on right wing.
There are many culprits for the Bruins' struggles. Czarnik hasn't scored in 15 games, Spooner has gone 14 games without a goal and Nash has one goal all season. Even Bergeron has scored just four times in 26 games and once in 11 games. And Julien stressed that his two goals for his new lines were to generate offense but also balance out the scoring.
But make no mistake, these lines changes shift a lot of the onus for turning the Bruins' season around Krejci's way. The second-line center has no more excuses related to his health because he's three months into the season and eight months removed from offseason hip surgery. Krejci has no points in his past three games and his 17 points put him on pace for just 48 points. That's not exactly what the Bruins need from their $7.25 million man.
Now he has one of the premier goal scorers in the league at his side.
"Zero pressure," Krejci coolly said about making sure he keeps Pastrnak's scoring binge going.
We'll see if there's no pressure starting with the Bruins' showdown with Montreal on Monday. The Bruins need a reliable second line and Krejci, Backes and a revolving door of left wings wasn't able to provide that.
With Schaller at left wing, Krejci's line still may lack some skill. But Schaller has proven he'll get his nose dirty and he knows how to distract the goaltender. And what Schaller lacks in skill should more than be made up by the upgrade from Backes to Pastrnak on the right side.
Pastrnak and Krejci have worked out in the past.
"We know each other, we played together many games, he learned me a lot of stuff," Pastrnak said. "So I know what to expect from him, he knows to find me wherever I will be. For me it's just to help him out, go to the net and create some offensive opportunities to try to score goals."
Ever a patriot toward his native Czech Republic, Krejci believes a common homeland helps him and Pastrnak work well together.
"Well, we had some chemistry," Krejci said. "He's from the same country as me, so we talk a lot in Czech and we have, maybe we're a lot different players, but we have similar thinking. That also helps so hopefully we can click from the first shift tomorrow and help the team win."
It took guts for Julien to shift Pastrnak off his line. In fact, Julien said after the game Saturday he didn't think the line combinations were the problem. Now it's obvious the coaching staff has decided the odds are better that Pastrnak can help Krejci make the Bruins a two-line team than he'll tail off without Bergeron and Marchand and leave the Bruins as a one- or no-line team.
The way the Bruins play defensively most nights, led by goaltender Tuukka Rask, they don't need a hailstorm of goals. If they can just become a two-line team, they'll be able to stay in the playoff race in the Atlantic Division, the weakest of the four groupings in the NHL. That means Bergeron is going to have to solve his problems, Marchand's going to have to hit play at his World Cup level and Backes is going to figure out a way to do more than tip shots around the net.
More than anything, though, the Bruins' hopes rest on Pastrnak getting Krejci going and making Krejci once again look like a center who can be a threat every shift.
