ANAHEIM — Chris Wagner knew that the chirps were going to be heading his way as soon as the puck was dropped at Honda Center.
Friday’s tilt between the Ducks and Bruins marked a homecoming of sorts for Wagner, who spent part of four seasons with Anaheim after getting drafted by the organization in 2010. As such, the Walpole native caught plenty of grief as the game progressed, with Wagner going toe to toe with a number of skaters he rose through the ranks of pro hockey with.
But, as Wagner was quick to note postgame, he was probably going to catch flak regardless of his history with the Ducks. After all, it’s in his nature to make a few enemies on the ice, given his hard-nosed, physical style of play.
“I mean, they get mad at me sometimes,” Wagner said. “They know how I play. Start scrums and stuff. But it’s probably frustrating (for them) to lose this many games. But overall, they’re a good team, it’s a lot of core guys that I’m friends with. It makes it even better to win tonight.”
Sure enough, for all of the post-whistle scraps and verbal barbs that Wagner found himself embroiled in, he ultimately had the last laugh in his return to the Golden State — carrying out the coup de grace by way of an empty-net goal with 1:31 remaining to close out Boston’s 3-0 win.
Along with the narratives that come with any players return to familiar territory, Wagner’s tally — which tied a career high for the tenacious winger with seven through 56 games played this season — also stood as a fitting reward after yet another night in which both he and his linemates stymied the opposition’s top line.
Just two games removed from holding Colorado’s dynamic trio of
Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen
and
Gabriel Landeskog
to zero points in seven-plus minutes of 5v5 TOI, the group of Wagner,
Noel Acciari
and
Sean Kuraly
once again got the better of a matchup with a line that has notched a casual 1,808 more points than them up at the NHL level.
A Ducks grouping of
Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
and
Rickard Rakell
have found plenty of success over the years by simply outmuscling the competition in the offensive zone, bulldozing their way to Grade-A areas of the ice with 6-foot-4, 225-pound Getzlaf leading the charge.
While the Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry line managed to hold a 9-5 edge in attempts during the over eight minutes of 5v5 play in which Wagner and his group were matched up against them, Boston managed to keep Anaheim’s main offensive engine stuck in a lull with just three high-danger scoring chances generated — and most importantly, zero points on the board.
Cassidy has often used his hard-hitting fourth line to counter more skilled opponents so far this season, but matchups against heavier teams such as Anaheim or Saturday’s matchup against the Kings also tend to benefit the Bruins in multiple areas.
Not only do players like Wagner, Acciari and Kuraly (469 combined hits this season) relish the chance to bang bodies with power forwards like Perry and Getzlaf, but it also gives Cassidy the luxury of saving his usual shutdown line anchored by
Patrice Bergeron
from some of the punishment that might come from going up against a bruising matchup such as Getzlaf and Co.
“They wanted that matchup, obviously, so we’ll gladly take it,” Cassidy said of his fourth line. “They’re a heavy line, big bodies — so against our big bodies, I think that’s a good matchup for us. We’ll certainly use Bergy against them at times if need be, but for the most part, that’s their assignment a lot of nights, especially if it’s a bigger line, and I thought they were very good. “
Matching brawn with brawn seems like a cut-and-dry matchup when it comes to Kuraly-Acciari-Wagner vs. Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry, but Wagner added that a couple of years within the Ducks system also paid dividends when it came to going up against a couple of former teammates.
“I thought we played pretty well defensively all night,” Wagner said. “Our line was playing against Getzy a lot. … “Just keep him to the outside, they play well down low because they’re so big. Played against them a lot in practice, so I kind of know what they’re trying to do. But as long as you’re playing in their end, that’s the best way to defend them.”
At this point, a strong showing from the fourth line is becoming more of the norm than a pleasant surprise for Cassidy and his staff — with Boston’s bench boss becoming more and more inclined to throw his bottom-six trio out for an arduous battle with a talented line and allowing Bergeron and his crew to eliminate another chunk of the opposing lineup.
Any added offense is a plus, which the checking line provided with four total points on the night — as Kuraly notched a pair of assists and Acciari lit the lamp for just the second time all season to open the scoring at 5:31 in the opening period.
It might have been the final bow on a by-the-book victory, but Cassidy acknowledged that Wagner’s empty-netter was perhaps the most rewarding result from Boston’s fourth-straight win.
“One of the reasons we put (Wagner) out there was a) we feel they can do the job, 6-on-5,” Cassidy said of going with his fourth line after Anaheim pulled their goalie. “They’re all penalty killers, they understand the dynamic of the extra guy. Second of all — it’s his homecoming a little bit, so the puck happened to find him. Good for him. I think it’s a bit of karma. Works hard and you're hoping that it would find him and it did, so it’s a good story.”
