Still fighting injuries and inconsistent play, Bruins sticking with Marchand-Krejci-Pastrnak line up front

The final score sheet credited Boston’s top line with four points in the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win over the Senators on Sunday, but Brad Marchand made a point to not sell the group short.

Even if, well — four points off of two tallies sounds like a pretty good night out on the ice.

“I thought we had a lot of really good looks tonight,” Marchand said. “We easily could have had four or five goals. Their goalie played really well, kept them in it.”

Bruce Cassidy’s latest concoction of talent on Boston’s top line sacrifices depth for outright skill, with David Krejci slotting in at the pivot in place of an injured Patrice Bergeron — with the Czech center having the luxury of two skilled wingers to work with in Marchand and David Pastrnak.

Previously used as a desperate in-game switch to inject some firepower to a largely quiet Bruins offense, Krejci has started the last two games between Marchand and Pastrnak — and the move has paid dividends.

While Boston’s four-point weekend a was generated by strong showings in net from both Jaroslav Halak and Tuukka Rask — along with the emergence of several bottom-six contributors in a 6-3 beatdown against the Leafs — the Bruins’ new-look first line has been a steadying, and effective, presence up front.

Through two games as a starting unit, the Marchand-Krejci-Pastrnak line has shouldered plenty of Boston’s scoring responsibilities — notching 11 points during the B’s pair of regulation wins.

With Bergeron still out of commission for at least the next couple of weeks due to a rib/clavicle injury, it doesn’t look like Krejci will be moving back to his usual role on the second line any time soon.

Not like Cassidy has much of an option in terms of tinkering with his top-six corps, anyway.



While Bergeron’s absence is nearly impossible to fill given what the veteran pivot brings to this club, Boston is also short another top-six forward for an undetermined amount of time as Jake DeBrusk’s status is still up in the air after missing the last two games due to feeling “physically” unwell.

DeBrusk, who took a puck to the back of his helmet back on Nov. 26, tallied zero points in his next four games before sitting out this weekend, with Cassidy adding that the young winger may not be able to go against Arizona on Tuesday night.

With DeBrusk — who ranks second on the Bruins with 10 goals this season — likely out of the equation, the writing is on the wall for Cassidy to keep his top line intact as a go-to conduit of offense for a club still searching for consistent secondary scoring.

"Right now, it's game by game,” Cassidy said of lineup shuffling. “I think with Jake being out, we acknowledged that the (Krejci) line will play together. We said that Jake and Krech had chemistry. Jake's not in the mix right now. Could he be Tuesday? Right now, I don't think so.

“I haven't heard that he's back skating, so I don't want to speculate, but sounds like he wouldn't be available Tuesday. So we'd probably keep it the same way. What we do with the other lines, will probably change game to game on the opponent.”

On a night in which Boston outshot Ottawa, 44-28, but was edged in five-on-five scoring chances, 16-14, both Marchand and Pastrnak picked up the slack on the second leg of a back-to-back slate — accounting for nine of those scoring chances at 5v5.

Marchand, who went through a scoreless drought during Boston’s three-game losing skid last week, was a thorn in the side of Ottawa’s D corps all night, firing nine shots on goal and registering four individual high-danger scoring chances during a team-high 23:29 of TOI.



While Marchand tallied the equalizer in regulation off his eighth goal of the season on the power play, he nearly potted a few more tallies in both the first and third periods — while Pastrnak’s breakaway bid in the final stanza unraveled after losing the puck right before he could fire a bid against Mike McKenna.

"They were on their game early on. ... They were really good,” Cassidy said of Marchand and Pastrnak. “They had their legs. They were flying with Krech in the middle. They've been a good line and we need them to be. They did a real good job."

It’s a small sample size, but for now, Boston’s latest forward trio is doing everything it needs to keep the Bruins’ offense afloat. Still, Marchand harped on the need for both his line and the rest of Boston’s forwards to be responsible away from the puck.

Primarily matched up against the Dzingel-Smith-Paajarvi line, the Krejci line was actually on the wrong side of SOG, 11-6, and attempts, 17-11, during the 10:48 of 5v5 TOI against the Senators third line. There’s still work to be done, but Marchand believes Boston has at least returned to the identity that allowed it to steadily collect points in November.

“That's how we’re going to win. We’re not going to win trying to have a 6-5 track meet,” Marchand said. “When we have the goaltenders we do that are playing the way that they are, we have to play well in front of them. When we do, we’re going to give ourselves an opportunity to win. Whether the puck wants to bounce our way or not, that (remains) to be seen. When we take care of pucks, play hard and are good on the forecheck, we’re a good team.”