In a perfect scenario, Bruce Cassidy would likely want to keep Charlie Coyle at his usual spot at the pivot.
After all, it’s where the veteran forward’s skills are often best utilized, as he showcased last spring — when he helped drive the third line during Boston’s march all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
But given the current state of a slumping Bruins club, such a perfect scenario has not been afforded to Cassidy and his staff when it comes to finding balance within Boston’s forward corps.
For as much as Boston wants to see what a power forward like Brett Ritchie could bring to a top-six unit anchored by David Krejci, extended stretches of impotent offensive production have forced Cassidy’s hand.
Whereas Krejci has often thrived with physical, hard-nosed wingers in previous campaigns (Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton stand as the shining examples), that track record hasn’t translated into much this season when Krejci has attempted to find a spark with Ritchie.
Entering Saturday’s matchup against the Panthers, a second line of Krejci, Ritchie and Jake DeBrusk had logged 15:37 of 5v5 ice time in Boston’s previous two games (regulation losses to Washington and Tampa Bay).
During that stretch, a line expected to provide a spark was stuck in neutral. In those two games, Boston failed to tally a goal when that line was out for a shift, while generating two high-danger scoring chances and getting outshot, 6-5.
Given the lack of production from that line and the pressure building off of Boston’s five-game losing skid, Cassidy went back to Coyle at the 2RW spot on Saturday — sacrificing scoring depth in the bottom six in an effort to get Boston’s top six rolling.
It may not be the plan Cassidy envisioned for Coyle going into the 2019-20 campaign. But both player and coach might have to start getting used to it.
On a night in which Boston finally put itself back in the win column for the first time in 11 days, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that a dormant second line once again started pulling its weight.
A reworked DeBrusk-Krejci-Coyle combination left its fingerprints all over the Bruins' 4-2 victory over the Panthers, with both Krejci and DeBrusk each tallying a goal and an assist at the BB&T Center.
"It was nice, it was first time in a while we kind of controlled the pace of play when we were out there," DeBrusk said. "Just one of those things where you try to keep building as the year goes along. It was nice to produce two goals, 5v5, that was something that we want to do, especially this time, we were kind of backs against the wall, going up against a pretty good Florida team with a good home record.”
Even though Coyle finished with zero points on the stat sheet, the forward's presence was easy to spot when shifted to the wing. When Krejci is at his best, he's often slowing down play in the O-zone, prodding the opposition in search of lanes for seam passes and collapsing defensive structures down low. It's a sound strategy, and one that Krejci excels in — when Boston is able to control the puck for extended stretches, that is.
Even though Ritchie's frame should allow him to extend O-zone shifts by winning puck battles down low, his lack of speed has often tabbed him as one of the last men in on the forecheck, with the opposition often either clearing the puck out or organizing a counter-rush before Ritchie can find himself in a position where his size could bring some value.
Coyle may not be a burner in terms of his speed, but he does have the wheels to both keep up with Krejci and DeBrusk during transition plays and can get into a favorable spot in battle areas during forechecking sequences. His role might be simplified a bit on the wing, but Coyle's size (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) and hockey IQ has clearly provided a lift when it comes to Krejci and DeBrusk's ability to recover pucks and execute plays in the O-zone.
"He was good tonight," DeBrusk said of Coyle. "I thought he was strong on pucks, he’s been there a little bit throughout the year. More so, understanding what kind of player he is, the more reps that you get. I thought he was strong on pucks down low and good defensively. He’s a natural centerman, so having that defensive posture gave us more chances to go out there in the D zone for draws. I thought we played well as a line tonight.”
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Whereas the last two games with Ritchie have yielded sub-optimal results, Boston clearly tilted the ice in its favor when DeBrusk-Krejci-Coyle hopped over the boards on Saturday, holding a 1-0 edge in goals scored, 17-9 advantage in shot attempts, 9-5 edge in shots on goal and three high-danger scoring chances during that line's 13:03 of ice time.
That line could have combined for two 5v5 goals together, although DeBrusk's opening tally in the first period was in the midst of a line change that had Coyle on the bench and David Pastrnak still out on the ice.
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"They certainly were excellent," Cassidy said of the Krejci line. "So was it Charlie or was it the other two guys, knowing sooner or later, they're good players, they're going to come around. I think it's a bit of both. Charlie is a good presence in the slot, he'll help below the goal line. This is the type of team, I think, with Florida, where you can play low in their zone, you may find some spots in the slot. We were able to do that.
"Jake's goal was just a bit of tough luck on them, but a good second effort by us. But I thought for most of the night, they were finding those soft areas because they recovered pucks. I thought it worked out well for us, because we won the game. They had some offense, three good players that knew that they could be better and they were."
There's plenty of optimism with this forward trio following Saturday's victory, but this performance has been far from a flash in the pan this year.
Here's a look at the season-wide numbers this year when both Ritchie and Coyle have skated with Krejci:
Krejci + Ritchie:
- 42:43 5v5 TOI
- 33-33 draw in shot attempts
- 22-20 edge for opponents in shots on goal
- 1-1 draw in goals scored
- 8-5 edge for opponents in high-danger scoring chances
- 58.33% Off. Zone Faceoff Percentage
- 74:37 5v5 TOI
- 86-62 edge for Bruins in shot attempts
- 41-29 edge for Bruins in shots on goal
- 6-0 edge for Bruins in goals scored
- 16-7 edge for Bruins in high-danger scoring chances
- 58.93% Off. Zone Faceoff Percentage