‘Play the Bruins way’: Peter Cehlarik finds himself bumped out of 3rd-line carousel

At first glance, there was an awful lot to like about Boston’s latest combination on its new-look third line.

Anchored by Charlie Coyle at the pivot and a pair of heavy wingers in David Backes and Peter Cehlarik, a line that has usually stood as one of Boston’s most evident flaws suddenly possessed the right amount of size and skill to be a viable option in Bruce Cassidy’s arsenal of forwards.

The results were encouraging in their first stint together last week against St. Louis — with the Coyle line holding a 14-7 edge in 5v5 attempts and seven scoring chances generated in 9:39 of TOI. The lone blemish in an otherwise solid night? A neutral-zone turnover by Cehlarik during a sluggish line change — paving the way for a goal from Alexander Steen seconds later.

The miscue from the 23-year-old B’s winger might have stood as a bit of a precursor to Saturday’s matchup, but Coyle was impressed with what Cehlarik showcased during his first outing in a bottom-six role this season.

“I think we did really well,” Coyle said. “Even for playing together the first time. We had some chances, we had the opportunities. He’s a pretty skilled guy, can hang on to the puck. I think if we just focus on not forcing things and we hang onto the puck, I think things will open up naturally. Three big guys, it makes it hard for them to take the puck from us and we can wear them down.”

Once again, the Cehlarik-Coyle-Backes line largely imposed its will in its latest appearance against the Devils on Saturday. After a constantly rotating third line sans Coyle had only managed to generate one high-danger scoring chance in its previous three outings ahead of the trade deadline, the 22-13-42 line had managed to create four high-danger bids in a little over 17 minutes of 5v5 TOI together.

Winning puck battles left and right in the Devils’ zone, the new Coyle line was out for 14 shot attempts and just four for New Jersey during 7:40 of 5v5 TOI Saturday, while also holding a 6-3 edge in shots on goal.

And yet, something wasn’t passing the eye test for Bruce Cassidy on the bench.



It wasn’t as egregious as the neutral-zone turnover against St. Louis, nor did a tripping penalty from Cehlarik stand as the straw the broke the camel’s back.

But over the final 20 minutes of regulation, Cehlarik found himself mired on the bench, not once getting a tap on the shoulder for the entire stanza during Boston’s 1-0 win over the Devils.

With players like Joakim Nordstrom, Brad Marchand and Marcus Johansson filling in at the vacant spot on Coyle’s line, Cehlarik ended his night with just 8:54 TOI — landing three shots on goal during his limited reps.

While Cehlarik wasn’t officially knocked for any giveaways on the final scoresheet, Cassidy was quick to note that there were a number of instances that put the winger in the doghouse for the night, especially when it comes to handling the puck.

“There were a few things we didn’t like,” Cassidy said of Cehlarik. “We’ve talked about allowing guys to play through certain parts of their game and sometimes it’s better to sit and watch. Tonight, we chose the latter. There were some things we had talked to him about. It wasn’t the penalty. Penalties happen. It was a little more about his routes, responsibility away from the puck, managing it at the end of the second period in your own end. Those are things we’ve talked to him numerous times about, so we went a different route, and we’ll see where it leads.”

While Cehlarik has clearly made strides as a heavy winger with great offensive instances around the net, it’s clear that the forward is still prone to a couple of slip-ups when it comes to handling the puck, especially in both the neutral zone (as evidenced during Steen’s goal) or in certain spurts during Saturday’s game against New Jersey.

(A miscue in the neutral zone allows St. Louis to counter in a hurry off of a snipe from Steen.)



During the final minute of the second period in which Cehlarik managed to land a shot on goal against New Jersey netminder MacKenzie Blackwood, the forward still found himself tagged for a slip-up down the other end of the sheet, as he attempted to clear the puck out of Boston’s zone by bouncing the biscuit off the boards and into the neutral zone.

The attempt was picked off along the half wall by Jesper Bratt however, with the Devils winger attempting to feed the puck up to Kenny Agostino off a backhand attempt with Cehlarik at that point trailing in the slot. Bratt’s feed didn’t hit the mark, but it was still a simple misstep that could have proven costly in a one-goal game.



Clearly, it’s never fun getting the hook in any game, but you’d have to think that Cehlarik still has a good shot of earning another bid with Coyle’s line in short order. At the very least, what Cehlarik can offer the offensive zone on that line has been more encouraging than what a player like Joakim Nordstrom has provided during a similar window — with the forward scoreless since Dec. 17.

It’s been a bit of an odd week for Cehlarik, who has been sent up and down from Providence and Boston three times in the span of a week. But Cassidy doesn’t believe that the hour-plus commute between the Baby B’s and Boston stands as any reasoning for Cehlarik’s lapses with the puck on his stick.

“He’s here in the NHL. He’s earned his right to be in the lineup," Cassidy said. "I think we’ve used him up in the lineup with (David) Krejci. We’ve used him with Charlie Coyle, two very good players. So I think at some point the responsibility falls on the player to be ready to play and play the Bruins way. I thought he got away from that a little bit, so that’s it.

“Only he can answer whether he’s, whatever you’re inferring, whether he’s frustrated or the travel. It’s certainly not the hour travel. Maybe the fact that he got sent down might have bothered him. I don’t know, I can’t answer that. We made some decisions at the deadline to ... as much as for roster purposes than anything. We’ve got past that. He got called up because he deserves to be here, and tonight we just made a decision to just cut back and use other people.”