Bruins’ experiment of splitting up Marchand, Pastrnak doesn’t last long in loss to Carolina

There wasn’t a whole bunch for Bruce Cassidy to nitpick about the Bruins’ offensive showing following Saturday’s win over the Predators.

The 5-2 final saw the Bruins cash in twice on the power play, with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand combining for seven points — including four during 5v5 play as part of a new-look top line alongside Danton Heinen.

Cassidy’s efforts of balancing out the scoring in his top six — with David Pastrnak slotting down to the second line alongside David Krejci — appeared to keep both pivots happy, with Bergeron and Krejci allowed to operate with some top-flight talent on the wing.

And while Pastrnak did finish with three points on the night (although two were on the power play), Cassidy did note that his second line had to fine-tune a few things during 5v5 play.

“Yeah, I mean they didn’t finish five-on-five – well, Pasta did with March,” Cassidy said. “I don’t even know who it was, it was Krech or Bergy still in the line? But they got good looks at the net.”

With Boston’s lineup still not at full strength, it appears as though Cassidy will continue to be fluid with the lines he rolls out — especially as a game progresses.

Look no further than Sunday’s frustrating loss to the Whalers - err, Hurricanes.

Upon glancing over the final stat sheet, it became apparent that Cassidy opted to go back to the B’s bread and butter on offense as the club looked to claw back from a multi-goal deficit.



While secondary scoring has slowly but surely become more and more prevalent as the season has progressed, Boston’s offense has largely relied on a dominant top line to set the tone both in 5v5 play and on the man advantage.

And for most of Sunday’s loss, Cassidy and his staff looked to find a spark with the regular trio of Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak.

Even though Boston opened the game with Heinen up with Bergeron/Marchand and Krejci/Pastrnak remaining together on the second line with Joakim Nordstrom, Pastrnak saw the majority of his shifts taken alongside Marchand (8:39) and Bergeron (8:00).

With Krejci? Just 4:21 of 5v5 ice time, along with 3:49 with Joakim Nordstrom.

Did it do much to help Boston rally past Carolina? Not quite. Boston was out-attempted, 10-7 during the 8:39 in which Pastrnak and Marchand were out on the ice at the same time.

But in most circumstances, keeping the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line intact will pay dividends for the Bruins. Just as how keeping the Marchand-Krejci-Pastrnak line together (57.78 Corsi-For Percentage, 4.51 Goals For per 60 minutes) would also lead to similar results.

But that leaves the same conundrum for Cassidy and his staff to sort out. Can the Bruins afford to roll out a top-heavy first line if it saddles another playmaking center (see: Krejci, David) with lesser talent to work with?

So far, it looks as though Boston’s plan to split Marchand and Pastrnak into “pairs” hasn’t exactly balanced things out quite as expected, at least during 5v5 play.

However, it hasn’t been a complete disaster for the B’s either.

During Sunday’s loss, Boston actually fared well with during the 3:28 TOI in which Heinen was paired with Bergeron on the top line — with the B’s holding a 4-0 edge in high-danger scoring chances during a small sample size.

And even though the Nordstrom-Krejci-Pastrnak line has not tallied a goal in 5v5 play this season, they still boast an impressive 64.31 Corsi-For Percentage in about 27 minutes of ice time together. 

But can Boston afford to stick with two revamped lines in its top six when the simple solution (Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak) would at least keep the Bruins’ offense humming with one dominant trio?

Having to chase a game for most of the second and third period obviously forced Cassidy’s hand and made overloading the top line a simple choice — but with Jake DeBrusk likely back in the fold on Thursday against the Devils, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if the “Perfection Line” is reunited for good.

“He’s getting close, so that might factor into how long that line stays as those three,” Cassidy said of DeBrusk on Saturday. “Listen, I like what (Nordstrom-Krejci-Pastrnak) 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.”