The Bruins got an early Christmas present Saturday afternoon with the
return of Patrice Bergeron.
On Thursday, it sounds like they’re getting a late Christmas present as well.
"I suspect [Jake DeBrusk] will play, Zee's [Zdeno Chara] looking better, he's a potential for [Thursday] as well. Kevan [Miller] should play, so we could have as many as three guys back,” head coach Cassidy said about the last three injured Bruins.
The Bruins host the New Jersey Devils Thursday in their first game back from the NHL’s three-day holiday break. Baring anything crazy during the break, Thursday could provide the Bruins with a fully healthy lineup for the first time in the 2018-19 season.
With the full health box checked off for the Bruins, lineup decisions await. The two toughest decisions for Cassidy and his staff lie in what to do with the team’s top-six, as well as which defenseman is the odd man out.
Since the return of Bergeron, the Bruins top center has found himself between Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen on the top line. David Pastrnak has been bumped down to the second line, playing to the right of Joakim Nordstrom and David Krejci.
A returning Jake DeBrusk throws a wrench into things.
“Jake skated today [Saturday]. He’s getting close, so that might factor into how long that line [First line] stays as those three. Listen, I like what they give us. They’re a good line. They’re good players. We may move Pasta back up to that top line. We’ve always talked about that, but let’s take a look at this for now. Danton, if he can hold his own up there then it makes us harder to play against, so that’s the big question,” Cassidy said Saturday afternoon following the team’s victory over Nashville.
To me, a DeBrusk, Krejci and Pastrnak combination gives the Bruins a more well-rounded top-six.
On the defensive side of things, the picture is cloudier. Steven Kampfer is the automatic to be removed from the lineup for Chara. But then from there, I think it will come down to matchups, and who is playing better than who. Ultimately, eight NHL-ready defensemen and six available spots is a good problem to have.
Speaking of problems, Sunday’s contest in Carolina was a big one for the Bruins. Jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, the Bruins found themselves in a good position. But from there, it was the Hurricanes? Whalers? Whalicanes? that took control of the game.
Ryan Donato and Kampfer each scored in the first 10 minutes of the first. A first half of the period that saw the Bruins dominate. But once Charlie McAvoy battled a puck out of midair and into the Bruins goal, the tables turned on the Bruins.
Sebastian Aho’s tally to get the Hurricanes/Whalers—one of two shorthanded goals scored against the Bruins—on the board, opened the floodgates, as Carolina went on to score the next three goals en route to a 5-3 victory.
The middle frame turned out to be the one that did the Bruins in as they were outscored 3-1 in the period.
It was a rough night all together for McAvoy who after the battled puck, had two giveaways that directly led to goals against. For the first time in his career, McAvoy finished the night a minus-four.
Special teams were a letdown for the Bruins despite holding Carolina without a power play tally in three attempts, and despite Donato's power play strike.
After Donato’s second of the night brought the Bruins back within one late in the second, Teuvo Teravainen’s shorthanded goal killed any momentum the Bruins may have had.
Teravainen’s tally came off of a massive miscue by Tuukka Rask who had a puck-handling issue.
The Bruins enter the holiday break as the top wild card team in the Eastern Conference, leading the Montreal Canadiens by one point.
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