Marcus Johansson didn’t hesitate for a second when Travis Dermott reared back for a slap shot.
Maneuvering to his left, Johansson absorbed Dermott’s rocket of a shot clean off the knee — dropping the Bruins winger to the ice for a moment before gingerly making it back over to the bench.
It was an instinctive move for Johansson in what was eventually a 6-4 win for Boston. But given the 28-year-old forward’s string of luck — or lack thereof — so far in a black and gold sweater, one likely wouldn’t object if Johansson hightailed it in the opposite direction of Dermott’s blast.
“You don’t really think when you do that,” Johansson said on Friday. “It’s part of the game. It ended up being — we won by two, but for a while it was a one-goal game and a lot of those things can be the big difference. That’s what comes down to it. I think every guy in here is willing to pay the price and willing to get the win.”
Marcus Johansson is hurting after blocking a Dermott slap shot off of his leg. pic.twitter.com/YsMBtL1OQu
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) April 18, 2019
While Johansson did not land on the scoresheet during Wednesday’s Game 4 victory over the Maple Leafs, it was a victory in and of itself that the winger was able to get back into the lineup — returning to the game in the third period and finishing the contest with 12:31 TOI on a third line with
Charlie Coyle
and
David Backes
.
Johansson’s painful stinger off the knee was just the latest and a series of unfortunate events to befall the speedy forward since Boston acquired him in a trade with New Jersey back on Feb. 25. Just three full games into his tenure with the B’s, Johansson was knocked out of commission — sidelined for over three weeks with a lung contusion after taking a heavy hit from Hurricanes forward
Micheal Ferland
.
Returning during the final two weeks of the 2018-19 regular season, Johansson wasn’t afforded much of a window to mesh on a line centered by either
David Krejci
or Coyle
— tallying just one goal and three total points over 10 games played.
But the postseason brought a new slate, and Johansson had his legs going in Boston’s Game 1 loss to Toronto — serving admirably on what was perhaps the B’s top forward trio in an otherwise disheartening defeat. Just two days later, Johansson was a surprise scratch just ahead of warm-ups for Game 2, with an illness holding out of the lineup for the following two playoff matchups.
Fair to say, it hasn’t been an easy road for Johansson so far in Boston.
“
I’ve gotten going and then something’s happened,” Johansson said. “It’s kind of been frustrating with that. But whatever you need to do in the playoffs, whatever you need to do to help your team win, it’s what you’re going to do. I think we have a great group of guys in here that are willing to do that. We’re just focusing on our next game and keep on doing that.”
While Boston’s third line has featured both
Chris Wagner
and Backes
slotting in at right wing, Johansson has remained alongside Coyle for both of his playoff appearances so far with Boston.
So far, the results have been a bit mixed at 5v5 play. In 23:12 of TOI in which Coyle and Johansson have skated together, the Bruins have been out-attempted, 25-16 (39.02 CF%) while posting a minus-2 shot differential and failing to tally a goal.
With just 50% of their faceoffs coming in the offensive zone, Cassidy has often relied on Coyle’s defensive ability and one of Wagner/Backes’ hard-hitting mentality to neutralize their matchup in Boston’s own end, while deploying Boston’s big guns like
Patrice Bergeron
and
Brad Marchand
primarily in Toronto’s side of the ice (70.45% Off. Zone Faceoff Percentage).
“He’s a big, strong guy,” Johansson said of Coyle, who has tallied points in three straight games for Boston. “The intensity ramps up in the postseason. He still plays the same way with the puck, he makes his plays and he’s strong on the puck. I think he’s so good defensively with his size and he battles and everything. So far, it suits him really well.”
If Coyle and Johannson can continue to stymie one of the Leafs’ lines in the D zone, they provide plenty of value against a potent offensive club like Toronto — while Coyle has been able to capitalize on special teams with a power-play goal during Game 3.
Still, given the short amount of time that Johansson has been able to log with his new teammates, Cassidy acknowledged that finding a spot for him in the lineup continues to be a work in progress.
“Energy, I thought, was good,” Cassidy said of his third line’s play on Wednesday. “Chemistry, we’re going to find out. It’s there at times, other times, they got hemmed in. I don’t know if that’s a chemistry issue or just not winning enough pucks and staying alive in the O zone. I think that’s part of it was that group.
“Charlie has been real good at that. Whoever is on the right side, whether it’s Backes, Wagner, whoever has kind of gone in there. I think that’s where they can better is hanging onto pucks in the O-zone. I think the rush game is good. We saw that earlier in the series with Marcus and it certainly helps on the power play. It’s a matter of keeping pucks alive.”