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Three thoughts from the Bruins win over the Oilers |
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The Bergeron line continues to be a cheat code
I remember one Christmas as a kid, getting a gift that I had no idea what it was. It was called the GameShark and it went along with my Nintendo 64. I plugged my GameShark in and was amazed at what was now at my hands. Thousands and thousands of cheat codes, some to my favorite games like GoldenEye and the Legend of Zelda. From there on out every time I used my Nintendo 64, I would do so with the benefit of my GameShark.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has a GameShark of his own, but his is called the line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak.
The cheat code was very much enabled once again Thursday as the Bruins picked up their third straight victory, this time over the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 at TD Garden.
After Connor McDavid opened the scoring 3:43 into the game, the Bruins quickly woke up and scored four unanswered goals. Three of those four coming from the Bruins cheat code of a first line.
First it was Pastrnak on the power play with his fourth of the season. Shortly after that, a Marchand pass played a little pinball, before finding its way behind Oilers goalie Cam Talbot, Marchand’s first of the season. Wrapping it up for the line, and for the Bruins was Bergeron with the empty net goal, his team leading fifth of the season.
The Bruins have 14 goals in their four games, 10 of those have come off the stick of Marchand, Bergeron or Pastrnak.
What makes the Bergeron line so great is the fact that they do everything. They play key minutes on the Bruins top power play unit. Marchand and Bergeron are the go to forwards on the penalty kill. They dominate possession five-on-five, and they’re as defensively reliable as you can be as a group of forwards.
After allowing McDavid to race in all alone, ultimately beating Jaroslav Halak with the goal, the Bergeron line held McDavid to just three more shots with none being too dangerous for one of the league’s top scorers.
Last season the three combined for 99 goals and there’s no reason to not expect them to push or exceed 100 goals this season.
I’ve been really impressed with Pastrnak’s game so far this season. Too often last season he would go for the flashy, high risk play. So far he’s done much less of that and is putting more pucks on net. Through his first four games last season, Pastrnak registered 13 shots on goal. Through four games this season he has 18 shots on goal, including back-to-back six shot performances against the Sabres and Senators.
Nordstrom in, Donato out and a much better Krejci
Offensively, the Bruins haven’t gotten much production from lines two through four. Looking to spark the secondary scoring, Cassidy once again tinkered with his second line. Back into the lineup was Joakim Nordstrom, out was Ryan Donato. With Nordstrom taking the left wing slot on the second line Jake DeBrusk moved over to the right side.
Cassidy was rewarded for his decision as Nordstrom scored his first goal of the season. But to me, the most important thing Cassidy got out of maneuvering the second line was a better David Krejci.
“More jump, more involved. Part of that’s on me to keep him involved if there’s penalty kills, etc., and his power-play group’s not getting out there, so we tried to keep him more involved in the game,” Cassidy said. “He had more jump, and when he’s going he makes people around him better. It was only a matter of time before we started to get more balance.”
Krejci picked up his second assist Thursday night on the Nordstrom goal, but this game was by far his best. He was quick to pucks, smart when the puck was on stick and created chances with skills.
I don’t see Nordstrom being the answer the Bruins are looking for on their second line long term, but if Nordstrom is going to bring the best out of Krejci for any amount of time, take it while you can get it.
Jaroslav Halak shines again
I was a bit surprised this morning when Cassidy named Halak the starter for Thursday’s contest against the Oilers, but once again, Cassidy was rewarded for his move. Halak stopped 25 of the 26 shots he saw, and made some key saves in the third period, keeping the Bruins lead at two.
“Well I thought, like you said, he was rock solid. I mean the first one, that’s a world-class player scoring a goal. Like I said, there’s a couple that creeped through him that we got breaks on, other nights those go in, but he was square, battles, works to find pucks, when there’s rebounds he plays it to the end,” said Cassidy.
“I think he’s active trying to get out and help the d break pucks out. Did a real nice job again. He’s been real consistent every time he’s been in the net. Even in the game in Washington, we weren’t very good, but I thought he played very well.”
Consistency is exactly what the Bruins hope to get from Halak. In bringing him in the Bruins were looking to reduce Rask's workload, while providing Rask with a competitive push that hasn't been there the last few seasons. Through two starts and some mop up duty in Washington, he's done both. Rask will be back in net Saturday when the Bruins host the Detroit Red Wings. The original start time of 7:00PM has been moved to 3:00PM to no longer conflict with Game 1 of the ALCS between the Astros and Red Sox.
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