BSJ Game Report: Bruins 6, Rangers 3 - Pastrnak’s hat trick, stout power play put Boston over the top taken at TD Garden (Bruins)

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Bruins

BSJ Game Report: Bruins 6, Rangers 3 - Pastrnak’s hat trick, stout power play put Boston over the top

By Conor Ryan

Mar 27, 2019 • 11:44 pm

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Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 6-3 win over the Rangers in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis…

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Expect plenty more lineup shuffling: With a little over a week until the end of the regular season, Bruce Cassidy and his staff don’t have much of a window to tinker with Boston’s lineup before the games really start to matter. As such, it didn’t take very long for Marcus Johansson to find himself bumped out of a top-six role as Boston looks to find some balance up front. While Johansson’s return from a 10-game absence started with him logging shifts with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, a sub-30 Corsi-For Percentage after the first period paved the way for Cassidy to put his lines in a blender for the rest of the night.

No line was left undisturbed on the night, with Cassidy rolling out no less than 10 different forward combinations during Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Rangers. Some combinations (DeBrusk-Krejci-Pastrnak) looked awfully good. Others? Meh. But one thing’s for certain. Even with home ice all but locked up in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, look for Cassidy and Co. to continue to experiment with their forward lines over the next five games as it looks to find the proper balance up front.

Pastrnak is just fine on the second line: If there’s one luxury for Cassidy and his staff, it’s that David Pastrnak can slot just about wherever Boston needs an injection of offense. While Cassidy could keep No. 88 up with his regular cohorts in Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand — Pastrnak didn’t lose a step while he was pushed down to Krejci’s line on Wednesday. While both Krejci and DeBrusk’s offensive production has somewhat “slowed” to a combined five points (1 goal, 4 assists) over the last five games, the DeBrusk-Krejci-Pastrnak line looked awfully energized — tallying a pair of 5v5 goals and combining for eight points in the win, including the third hat trick of the season for Pastrnak. 




With Pastrnak providing a spark on the second line and the return of both him and
Torey Krug
putting a power-play unit back on track with a 4-for-6 showing on Monday, Cassidy now has the freedom to try players like Johansson and
Danton Heinen
at other spots around the lineup in search of the proper fit while Pastrnak’s offensive production continues to hum right along.


FOUR UP


Torey Krug:
A nice return for Krug — who tallied a pair of assists and picked up right where he left off quarterbacking Boston’s top power-play unit. With his first helper on Pastrnak’s second goal of the night, Krug also tallied his 284th career point, which stands as the most by an American-born player in franchise history.


David Pastrnak:
I think the splint on Pastrnak’s thumb isn’t bothering the B’s winger all that much. Since returning from a 16-game absence back on March 19, Pastrnak is now up to five goals and 11 points over five games. Not too shabby.


Power play:
Think the Bruins’ power play missed
Torey Krug
and
David Pastrnak?
Still ranked as the third-best unit in the NHL (27.1 percent success rate), Boston’s man advantage was firing on all cylinders Wednesday — cashing in on four of its six opportunities against the Rangers. Leaving Pastrnak alone in his regular spot at the left circle certainly didn't help the Rangers. 




Brad Marchand:
It seems like a certainty now that Marchand will be just the 10th player in Bruins’ history to tally 100 points in a single season — and the first since
Joe Thornton
hit the century mark in Boston back in 2002-03. With three helpers on Wednesday, Marchand is now up to 97 points this season.


TWO DOWN


Marcus Johansson:
A so-so night from Johansson, who finished with a 42.86 Corsi For Percentage and a minus-1 over 12:16 of ice time. Both lines that he earned a majority of reps with both were on the wrong side of puck-possession metrics in Krejci's (25.00 CF%) and
Charlie Coyle’s
(42.86 CF%). Still, there's plenty of rust to shake off for the winger after missing over three weeks due to a lung contusion. 


Brendan Lemieux:
On a night in which the Rangers took 12 penalty minutes and were involved in numerous scraps —
Brendan Lemieux
might have made the most ill-advised decision of them all by calling out
Zdeno Chara
from the bench. Luckily for the 23-year-old winger, nothing came of it.




PLAY OF THE GAME


Not going to stop that one.




PARTING THOUGHTS






LOOKING AHEAD


The Bruins will close out their short two-game homestand on Saturday when they battle the Florida Panthers in a matinee matchup. Puck drop is set for 1 p.m. Boston has had Florida’s number as of late — with the B’s following up an impressive comeback win at home over the Panthers on March 7 by trouncing them on the road, 7-3, on March 23.

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