How the Bruins got their secondary scoring to finally break through once again

There was both good and bad to take away from the play of Boston's new-look second line of David Krejci, Jake DeBrusk and Anders Bjork on Tuesday night in Nashville. 

If you were to only fixate on the underlying offensive numbers, you’d likely want to look away — with the Predators holding a 14-4 edge in shot attempts during the 7:31 of 5v5 ice time that Krejci’s line logged. 

But there were plenty of positives to draw away from Bruce Cassidy’s latest shuffle in the top-six. 

Bjork’s improved defensive play was evident under the added minutes he’s earned, especially when it came to winning loose pucks in the O-zone and clearing them out of danger. The winger also generated a high-danger scoring chance off of a mini-breakaway that was thwarted by Pekka Rinne in the opening period of play.

Elsewhere, DeBrusk added a primary helper on Patrice Bergeron’s power-play tally in the second period, while Krejci scored an empty-net goal to snuff out any semblance of a Nashville rally with 55 seconds to go in regulation. 

But when it comes to that second line’s impact on what was a convincing 6-2 victory over the Predators, most of the focus shouldn’t be fixated on the tangible production generated when those three were out on the ice. 

Rather, one should take a look further down the lineup, with Bjork’s promotion allowing a couple of key cogs in the bottom-six to finally fall back into place.



Even if Boston’s third line has yet to find much in terms of consistency this season, especially at right wing, Cassidy isn’t going to have many qualms about the effort that trio put forward against Nashville. 

After some extended stretches of rudderless play, that line finally had its regular driver back at the pivot in Charlie Coyle, with Bjork’s promotion allowing the Weymouth native to return to the center position — a spot that Coyle has preferred over the years. 

For as much as Coyle’s size can be an effective asset when slotted into a top-six role from time to time, his puck-possession prowess is best utilized against other bottom-six competition, where he can often extend O-zone possessions all by himself — and make things a lot easier for his linemates.

Look no further than the sequence leading up to Danton Heinen’s first goal in eight games, in which both Coyle and Brett Ritchie won puck battles down low, extended possessions and helped clear space in the Grade-A areas for Heinen to get a clear shot off.



That Heinen-Coyle-Ritchie line added another tally in the closing seconds of the contest off of Coyle’s eighth goal of the year, but they consistently hemmed Nashville into its own zone for most of the night. In their 4:52 of 5v5 ice time together, Boston held a 7-2 edge in shots on goal to go along with a 5-0 advantage in scoring chances. 

“I thought Ritchie went in there and banged with a purpose. You want to be physical, but you want to win pucks and get to good ice and create turnovers and they were able to do that more than once tonight,” Cassidy said. “That was good to see. We need that.”

With the third line stabilized thanks to Bjork’s promotion, a hot-and-cold fourth line was able to get back to basics. As Cassidy has looked for the best combinations up front, he’s often had to get creative with players like Chris Wagner and Sean Kuraly, who have earned looks at second-line wing and third-line center over the last couple of weeks. 

While those experiments have led to largely ineffective results, the duo teamed up with Par Lindholm on Tuesday and all three were a thorn in the side of Nashville once inserted back into their usual roles. 

Along with a goal from Wagner — deflected past Rinne off an initial shot from Lindholm — Boston’s fourth line suffocated the Predators in the O-zone, with Nashville only attempting three shots in Kuraly-Lindholm-Wagner’s 7:28 of 5v5 ice time.

“Wags and Lindy, I don’t even know who they gave credit to (for the goal)," Cassidy said. "Again, good forecheck, you’re on top of pucks, you’re keeping it alive. D makes a good play and again, we don’t turn down shots. All of a sudden, it’s in the net.”

Add in a team-leading four high-danger scoring chances generated by the fourth line during that same stretch of time, and it should come as no surprise that the Bruins won handily on Tuesday night, especially with their top line continuing to excel.

It remains to be seen if Tuesday’s lineup combination is the winning concoction that Boston has been searching for. With the likes of Karson Kuhlman and Zach Senyshyn shaking off the rust in Providence and the trade deadline still weeks away, methinks not. 

But with Bjork allowing Coyle to slot back to his regular role as 3C — and solidifying Kuraly/Wagner’s roles on the fourth line — Boston was once again reminded of how lethal this forward group can be when all of the cogs are once again turning in the same direction.

"When guys contribute, different lines get on the scoresheet," Cassidy said. "Penalty kill blocks some shots, power play got us a big goal there when we need it. Tuukka’s saves. D was active, made some plays. Everyone feels like they're doing their part,” Cassidy said. “I don’t think we’ve ever considered ourselves a one-line team. There’s some nights that obviously, those guys that do a lot of the scoring for us. But we always feel like we’re a group of 20 guys that have to pull their weight every night. If not, we’re not going to win every night. That was a good example of it tonight.”