An addition to the Bruins' roster by way of a trade-deadline pickup in late February, Charlie Coyle has joined the carousel of B’s skaters that has yet to find a reliable cast to play alongside. While Coyle has settled into his regular role as the pivot on Boston’s third line and has developed quite the rapport with Marcus Johansson so far this postseason, Coyle has yet to find much consistency to his right.
Whether it be regular lineup tweaking or injuries to Johansson and others, Coyle has often had to adapt on the fly with his new club. During the regular season, Coyle failed to log at least 50 minutes of 5v5 TOI with any one lineup combination. The most utilized trio? A group of Coyle, Danton Heinen and Chris Wagner — who logged a whopping 42 minutes of 5v5 TOI together. In total, Coyle has skated together with 10 different combinations that have been out on the ice for at least 10 minutes together.
Usually, Coyle cycled through other bottom-six options on his line, while a promotion up to the second line during David Pastrnak’s absence due to thumb surgery also saw the Weymouth native play up with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk for a stint (42 minutes of 5v5 TOI).
But rarely has Coyle had a winger at his disposal quite like Pastrnak. It could soon become a reality.
While a line of Johansson-Coyle-Pastrnak only logged a little over a minute of 5v5 TOI during the regular season, Bruce Cassidy shuffled No. 88 down to the third line in the later stages of Saturday’s Game 2 loss to the Blue Jackets.
In 3:30 of game action together, the reworked Coyle line generated a goal — with a wraparound bid from Coyle deflecting off of Pastrnak’s skate and past Sergei Bobrovsky — while Columbus landed two attempts to their one (33.33 CF%).
It’s a small sample size, but one that Cassidy is willing to roll out ahead of Game 3 — especially if it continues to lead to goals.
“(Pastrnak) played some with Johansson and Coyle the other night,” Cassidy said. “I don’t think he’s practiced with him, I don’t think, ever. So if we’re going to go down that road, it wouldn’t hurt to have him get some reps. We’ll make that decision tomorrow. We’ve moved our wingers around anyway, as you know, so he could end up with Bergy, Krech or Coyle. I’m not going to play him with
(Sean) Kuraly
, I’ll let that out of the bag, but he could be with any of the other ones.”
So far, Pastrnak has been
and even back during Boston’s first-round matchup against Toronto. While his point totals still read three goals and seven total points over nine playoff matchups in 2019 — both top-six lines that Pastrnak has skated with have largely sputtered with him during 5v5 play.
So far this postseason, Pastrnak has split time between his regular spot up top with
Patrice Bergeron
and
Brad Marchand
— and on the second line with Krejci and DeBrusk.
- 1 goal scored — while surrendering a pair of tallies to the opposition.
- A 50.51 Corsi For Percentage — after generating a 56.04 CF% in the regular season
- A minus-6 shot differential — after posting a plus-45 shot differential in the regular season
- A 1.17 Goals For Per 60 minutes — after averaging 3.63 goals per 60 minutes in the regular season
Putting Pastrnak with Krejci is a logical fallback option — especially with Heinen filling in admirably with Bergeron + Marchand (65.79 CF% this postseason). After all, a Bruins line featuring both No. 46 and No. 88
generated a whopping 17 5v5 goals in 296:00 of TOI together during the regular season, to go along with a plus-27 shot differential.
- A 48.48 CF% — with the Blue Jackets holding a 68-64 edge in shot attempts.
- A minus-1 shot differential.
- Just one 5v5 goal scored.
- A minus-2 differential in scoring chances generated (30).
Fair to say, both combinations, as constituted, aren’t doing enough to put Boston over the top against Columbus, and contributors like
Joakim Nordstrom,
Kuraly,
Coyle and Johansson can’t be expected to shoulder a majority of the scoring load for the entire postseason.
Pastrnak skating on the third line may not be the best look for a dynamic, franchise winger that lit the lamp 38 times in just 66 games during the regular season — but Cassidy believes the pieces are still in place for the winger to succeed in the bottom-six.
While Johansson’s speed and playmaking ability has allowed the Coyle line to capitalize during line rushes against both the Leafs and Blue Jackets — Cassidy believes that group is at its best when a big-body pivot like Coyle can hold on to the puck and cycle it around in the offensive zone, opening up space and allowing shooters to get into positioning for Grade-A looks and juicy rebounds.
“Well a little more speed and finish than say, a (
Chris) Wagner
,” Cassidy said of what Pastrnak could bring to a line with Johansson and Coyle. “Heinen, when he’s on there, can certainly make plays. We’ve used
(Karson) Kuhlman
,
(David) Backes
. They’ve used a lot of different guys. (Pastrnak is) the most high-end, creative talent of those guys. You might see a little more line-rush play then as a result of that, than forecheck.
“But we really like Charlie’s puck possession in the O-zone, so Pasta is going to have to find the spots there. When Bergy’s line is on, he’s playing with March, that’s where they excel more than line rush — the cycle play. Generating off a shot, rebound, recovery. So he’ll fit in fine there. It’s just a matter of finding his spots, when Charlie likes to dish it. JoJo loves to make plays, so to have a shooter over there should excite him. If that ends up a line, we’ll see. But best-laid plans, you never know how chemistry is going to unfold.”
Whichever way Cassidy sorts out his lineup for Tuesday’s Game 3 over at Nationwide Arena, one thing is clear – Boston is not going to sit with the status quo, especially after Boston’s best forwards failed to deliver on Saturday’s double-overtime loss.
Based on Monday’s practice, it appears as though Pastrnak’s spot on the top power-play unit is still secure, as he was back in at the elbow with Marchand, Bergeron, Krug and Johansson — even tapping in a backdoor feed on the unit’s first run-through at Warrior Ice Arena.
Both Pastrnak and Boston’s man advantage have left a lot to be desired so far this series (1-for-8 against Columbus), but keeping Pastrnak up with that group will likely help offset the minutes the winger will likely lose if indeed he is bumped out of the top six during 5v5 play.
While Cassidy has yet to tip his hand when it comes to the lineup for Game 3, it certainly seems like Pastrnak is locked into a spot on the Coyle line, as he replaced Wagner’s space in the lineup, while Kuhlman returned to a top-six role during practice rushes with Krejci and DeBrusk.
Given Wagner’s sluggish start to the playoffs and Kuhlman’s track record with Krejci and DeBrusk (1 goal scored, 55.56 CF% over 25:34 of TOI together), the lone skater set for uncharted territory figures to be Pastrnak on Tuesday night.
Learning the ropes with a line that he has logged less than five minutes of ice time with is a daunting task for Pastrnak — one not made any easier while on the road and last change in the hands of
John Tortorella
. But at this point, Pastrnak hasn’t left Boston with a ton of options.
For the 22-year-old winger, the goal remains the same at Nationwide Arena, regardless of who he plays with.
“Try to shut them up, right? That’s what’s going through everybody’s heads when you play away games,” Pastrnak said. “You try to play your best hockey and score.”
Stats via
,
and
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