Bruins lineup: Cassidy shuffles up Krejci line again, David Backes shifted back to center vs. Dallas

In another attempt to spark what has been a largely lifeless forward corps, Bruce Cassidy juggled up his second and third lines once again ahead of Monday’s home matchup against the Dallas Stars.

Joakim Nordstrom continued to his trip across the B’s depth chart, landing at left wing on the second line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk — while David Backes will return to the pivot at the third line with a demoted Danton Heinen and Anders Bjork.

While Heinen has largely played in a top-six role after getting scratched for consecutive games in October, the 23-year-old forward has yet to produce with Krejci and DeBrusk — limited to just three helpers through 11 games played.

Likewise, Backes has struggled to get going even before a concussion sidelined him for five games last month. The 34-year-old veteran has yet to record a point so far this season, and was part of a third line on Saturday against Nashville that was outshot, 11-3, over eight minutes of five-on-five ice time.

For Backes, getting switched back from wing to center might take some adjusting, but it will be a spot that he was slowly getting acclimated to before his head injury.

"I think there are certain little nuances that are coming along,” Backes said. “I played more at the beginning of this season at center than I have the rest of my time here in Boston. Yeah, I'm feeling a little more comfortable.”

Even with the number of moves up and down the lineup, Backes noted that the pressure is there for Boston’s bottom three forward lines to start clicking in order to help out Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak up top.

“Obviously it's there and when those guys don't score, it's glaring that those guys have the ability to put up very crooked numbers in a single game,” Backes said. “They're arguably — not much of an argument, I guess — our best three forwards together. So we've got that line loaded. With the opportunities that they get, they're very good at producing for us. So we can't sit back and wait for them to do it. We've got to be pushing the envelope."

Elsewhere, Tuukka Rask will get his first start in net since Oct. 27 against the Canadiens. With five games in eight days, Cassidy will have to at least give both netminders some reps, especially in terms of giving Jaroslav Halak a breather after stopping 81 shots over his past two starts.

In his career against the Stars, Rask is 6-2-1 with a .929 save percentage.

BSJ Analysis:



The latest lineup moves won’t wow many — especially for those clamoring for the Bergeron line to be split up in order to add a weapon like Pastrnak to a line with some playmaking potential in Krejci and **insert winger here**.

For Cassidy, the move seems to be two-fold — keeping the Bergeron line intact while hoping that the second and third line can rekindle some of the production that they put together earlier this season and last year.

Demoting Heinen and reuniting him with Backes on the third line seems to be a move to get those two reacquainted after forming one of the more effective third lines in the league last season — although a huge portion of that credit should go to the man in the middle in Riley Nash.

Opposing teams have largely capitalized whenever Backes has been out on the ice so far this season — with the B’s outshot, 46-30, during 82:34 of 5v5 TOI for the veteran. Perhaps adding a familiar presence in Heinen (331.9 TOI together at 5v5) might allow Backes to get reacclimated after a slow start.

In Heinen’s case, matching him up against a couple of easier targets in second and third pairing defenseman could also get him on a roll.

"Scoring, probably, is the biggest thing,” Cassidy said of Heinen’s biggest struggle so far this season. “Generating offense, getting chances. This year, they're not coming as easily. Is that because he's higher up in the lineup. Don't forget, they probably saw a lot of third pair D last year.

“So maybe that has something to do with it — the personnel. I don't know. I wish I had a real good answer for you. ... He's gone through periods here where he's dried up. So we may find out he's a streaky guy. We just have got to get him on the right side of the streak right now."

Cassidy has mentioned before of Nordstrom’s ability to play up in the lineup thanks to his wheels, with the Swede tallying one of his two goals this season while on a rush with Krejci back on Oct. 11 against Edmonton.

"I liked the way it looked on our last homestand for us,” Cassidy said. “Krejci and Nordstrom - speed on both wings. Control a bit more of the matchup with now Backes — I think he was with Donato and Bjork before, now it's Heinen. They've played together, Backes and Heinen. I think ideally, they can recapture that third-line success that they had in the past. That's what was behind it. Keeping the first and Kuraly line alone. We'll see how it goes.”

For Nordstrom, who has seen time on just about every line — including a few twirls to Patrice Bergeron’s right — getting moved every which way doesn’t change the way he approaches his overall game.

“I think just trying to play the same way I did. No matter what line I'm on. I think my biggest asset is probably my skating ability, so I'm just trying to move my legs and speed around the puck."