It’s a luxury that few coaches in the NHL can say that they have.
But for the small crop of bench bosses that can turn to a game-changing, dominant mega-line night in, night out — compacting so much talent and offensive punch in one unit can also bring its fair share of issues, as hard as it is to believe.
There are only a choice few forward trios that come to mind when it comes to “mega-line” status.
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak.
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen.
Draisaitl-McDavid-{insert RW here}.
And while these lines alone can often tilt the ice in favor of their club with just a couple of dominant shifts together, the case could be made that their teams are better off with the group broken up — spreading the scoring wealth across the depth chart, as opposed to keeping it in its current top-heavy configuration.
From the Bruins’ perspective, the rationale is certainly there when it comes to fracturing the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak group — given the club’s inconsistent offensive output on both the second and third lines.
But that doesn’t mean that Bruce Cassidy is going to budge.
“I've had one here for years, so I'm a fan of it, clearly,” Cassidy said of teams opting to keep these mega-lines intact. “I think everyone coaching will probably have to manage their personnel with how they see it. Well, what's the residual effect?
“For us, I think we've built the bottom of our lineup very well, we're just kind of trying to find those middle pieces that work well together. We have moved Pasta off that top line at times, but generally speaking, I bet he's 90% with that (first) line. I just feel that when they're on, they can dominate and build energy for the rest of the group.”
It looks like Jon Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning have taken a page out of Cassidy’s book in that regard — and have set the stage for a primetime heavyweight bout Thursday night at TD Garden.
During a 62-win season in 2018-19, the Bolts often opted to roll out a top-line featuring two bonafide stars in Brayden Point and reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov — with Tyler Johnson rounding out a group that was on the ice for 35 5v5 goals scored in 555 minutes of TOI together.
By slotting down Steven Stamkos on the second line, Cooper gave an already potent top-six group a bombastic one-two punch in 2018-19. But a year removed from an embarrassing first-round exit, it looks as though a vengeful Tampa team is willing to go scorched earth with a juggernaut of a top line.
As soon as Point was given the green light to play after recovering from offseason hip surgery, Cooper dropped the 23-year-old pivot in between Stamkos and Kucherov for a matchup against the Maple Leafs on October 10.
The results were … encouraging, to say the least. In what was a 7-3 drubbing of Toronto, Tampa’s new-look mega-line combined for five goals and 11 points — with eight of those points coming during 5v5 play.
The return of Point — who posted 41 goals and 92 points last season — gives that line not only its engine down the middle of the ice, but also reinforces a high-end scoring group with some much-needed defensive accountability. After facing off against Point and the Lightning during the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2018, Cassidy noted that Point could follow a similar career trajectory as Patrice Bergeron when it comes to evolving into the NHL's premier two-way center.
"He compliments, because he's just good," Cassidy said of Point. "He can play with anybody. He doesn't look like he's deferring, because that's what sometimes happens with a younger guy. With guys that are more established, you don't play your own game — you want to get them the puck a lot. ... He can beat you in the offensive end and works hard in the defensive end. Puts a lot of value on defense."
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Tampa Bay has been quite sluggish out of the gate this fall, especially in terms of puck possession and overall shot share — with the Bolts averaging just 25.7 shots per game (last in the NHL), while relinquishing 34.2 shots per game (29th in NHL) down the other end of the ice.
Still, as expected, the Stamkos-Point-Kucherov trio has served as Tampa’s “get-out-of-jail-free” card when it comes to consistent offensive production, with the Lightning holding a 4-1 edge in 5v5 goals scored and a 19-16 edge in scoring chances during that line’s 38:07 of 5v5 TOI together.
But they've also been far from impervious, controlling just a 45.24% shot share during that same stretch — with the Lightning trailing, 7-4, in terms of high-danger scoring chances generated.
That could leave a bit of an opening for the Bergeron line to land some punches on Thursday, if Cassidy opts to primarily pit both lines against one another. As expected, Boston's big guns have shouldered most of the scoring burden for the B's in the early going — combining for 24 points over the last five games alone.
Even when taking away the added production achieved on the man advantage, Boston has still tallied six 5v5 goals and holds a commanding 57.63% shot share when the Bergeron line has been deployed over 64:04 of 5v5 TOI. Given the Point line's struggles in the early going when it comes to surrendering high-danger chances (an ugly 11.02 high-danger shots against per 60-minute rate), a simple miscue or lapse in details might be all Bergeron and his linemates need to pounce. The Ducks found that out firsthand on Monday night.
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Still — even if Tampa might open itself up to a bit more punishment — as a whole, both the Bergeron and Point lines should trade punches whenever they're both out on the same shifts. And if we're looking at expected goals (shots weighted by location to account for danger), it's looking like it's a bit of a wash between these two high-powered trios.
Bergeron Line:
Expected Goals For Per 60 Minutes: 2.11
Expected Goals Against Per 60 Minutes: 1.87
Point Line:
Expected Goals For Per 60 Minutes: 2.5
Expected Goals Against Per 60 Minutes: 2.43
When it comes to breaking the stalemate between these two lines, perhaps the question we should be asking is how will both Boston and Tampa's shutdown lines fare as well.
Even if Bergeron and Co. should draw the lion's share of minutes against Stamkos-Point-Kucherov, Cassidy will most likely roll out his trusted fourth-line grouping of Sean Kuraly, Chris Wagner and Joakim Nordstrom as well in an effort to both land some welts against the Bolts' top unit and keep them pinned in their own zone by way of a ferocious forecheck.
So far, the Nordstrom-Kuraly-Wagner line has not been tagged for a goal against in 22:01 of 5v5 TOI, even with Cassidy opting to play them for extended stretches against Colorado's MacKinnon line (5:00 of 5v5 TOI against), Taylor Hall and the Devils' top line (3:45) and Ryan Getzlaf and the Ducks' first line (4:19).
Along with keeping them off the scoreboard, this fourth-line crew also has the forechecking ability to eat up valuable minutes against top-six competition and control play in the O-zone — like when the trio held a 4-0 edge in 5v5 scoring chances against Colorado's top forward grouping on October 10. Expect Kuraly and Co. to get plenty of shifts against the likes of Point and Kucherov in an effort to wear them down and give the Bergeron line a breather against lesser competition.
Tampa Bay also has a defensive ace up its sleeve as well when it comes to the forward grouping of Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn — who have only been knocked for one goal against in 71:43 of 5v5 TOI together. While they've had a bit of a revolving door at RW (the latest candidate being Mathieu Joseph) this shutdown line for the Bolts has also fared very well against whatever daunting assignments Cooper gives them. During that blowout win over the Leafs last week, Toronto's line of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Andreas Johnsson was only able to hold a modest 3-2 edge in shots on goal and zero tallies during the 6:49 of ice time in which Cirelli was matched up against them.
There's plenty to digest when it comes to looking at the tale of the tape between these two mega-lines — given both their differing play styles and the impact that other shutdown lines will have on each grouping's overall offensive output. Based on all we've combed over, we're looking at more and more of a split decision — with just a lone turnover or defensive miscue standing as the final determinant as to which first-line lands the knockout punch.
If anything, it'll certainly make for a riveting night of hockey.
"It will be interesting, if (Point) sticks with that (line)," Cassidy said. "If we play our line against them. Now you've got another one of those great matchups — with a lot of high-end players on the ice at the same time and only one puck out there. That'll be good to watch."
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, Corsica, Sean Tierney and HockeyViz.