It isn’t always fair to size up the play of Boston’s fourth line by staring at the stat sheet.
A forward trio tasked with wearing down the competition and extending O-zone shifts by way of a heavy forecheck, Boston’s regular grouping of Sean Kuraly, Chris Wagner and Joakim Nordstrom haven’t had the luxury of favorable ice so far this season — with just 22.02 percent of their faceoffs coming in the opponent’s zone.
Given their less-than-desirable assignments (often against top-six talent), one can only draw so much from the numbers when it comes to a fourth line’s effectiveness — given that their role often has them taking some heavy punches from the competition, night in and night out.
But given their track record, especially after last year, Bruce Cassidy hasn’t let his fourth line off the hook in what has been a rather inconsistent 2019-20 campaign.
Even if that bottom-six unit isn’t going to be relied upon to consistently generate 5v5 offense, their efforts towards tilting the ice in Boston’s favor by way of physicality and sheer determination should be a regular sight whenever the Nordstrom-Kuraly-Wagner line hops over the boards.
“Still looking for them to get to — I don’t want to say their ceiling — but higher to their game. More to their standard,” Cassidy said of Boston’s fourth line after a 2-1 overtime loss to Columbus last week. “We’ll keep working with them to get there. It’s a tough challenge every night. You’re typically starting in your own end, playing against good lines. That’s what’s in front of them. It will make us better when they get there.”
When Boston’s fourth line isn’t holding its end of the bargain when it comes to negating a top-six group, the domino effect can often be catastrophic.
Patrice Bergeron’s line is often pressed into service in an effort to stop the bleeding on the defensive end, taking that group away from valuable O-zone possessions. Cassidy’s in-game lineup shuffles start to take place, with Boston searching for a suitable stopgap against the opposition’s top offensive weapons.
But when the B’s fourth line is clicking, they can often dominate a game for extended stretches — all while providing a spark for their teammates on the bench. Much to Cassidy’s relief, those performances are starting to become more and more of a regular occurrence down the second half of the 2019-20 season.
In the immediate aftermath of Boston’s 5-4 victory over the Jets, most of the praise was reserved for David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk. Rightfully so, considering the wingers combined for all five of the B’s tallies.
But Cassidy made sure to tip his cap to his fourth line — a group that, despite being on the ice for a pair of goals against, still spent most of the night hemming the Jets down their end of the ice.
“I thought they got a little unfortunate tonight; they were on the ice for a couple of goals against where our D got beat one on one where they did a really good job,” Cassidy said. “Didn’t show up in the scoresheet in the plus-minus but one of our better lines tonight.”
While Boston’s blue line faltered at times, the fourth line used their size to land some welts against Winnipeg and generate some established O-zone possessions. Most of those stretches translated directly into quality chances — with Boston holding an absurd 6-1 edge in high-danger scoring bids during the Kuraly line’s 6:46 of 5v5 ice time together.
Adhering to a simple, physical game paid dividends for the Bruins in the opening period.
With David Pastrnak skating with the bottom-six crew after Wagner was whisked off the ice by a concussion spotter, all it took was a simple forechecking sequence from Kuraly to generate a Grade-A look for the B’s top sniper.
Seconds after Kuraly beat the Jets to a loose puck, he protected the biscuit and kicked it over to Nordstrom, who fed the waiting Pastrnak in the slot for his first of three total tallies on the night.
“We happened to throw Pasta out there and the puck finds him so it worked out well for us in that regard,” Cassidy said. “I think the last two games you’re seeing more up and down the lineup whereas the few games before that it was a struggle for some guys. But it’s a long year and you hope they’ll come out of it and it looks like, at least in the short term here, we have.”
It was a great sequence from a line looking to get rolling in terms of 5v5 offense, but the return of Wagner provided another adrenaline boost for Boston’s energy trio.
Even though Wagner only logged 10:58 of ice time in Thursday’s win, he made the most of his 18 shifts, landing a team-high seven shots on goal and dishing out four hits. Of those seven shots, five came from within 12 feet of the Jets’ net — with Wagner finishing the night with all seven of his line’s high-danger scoring chances.
“Chris Wagner had the best game of the year offensively,” Cassidy said. “Hit a post, was in all alone, breakaway, guy makes a great save, had a couple other point-blankers. Their line was going, I thought Nordy gave them a lot of energy. When he’s skating, it makes a difference on that line. So they were good.”
Thursday’s game was far from an abnormality when it comes to this crew, especially over the last week.
Over the last two games in which a fourth line featuring Kuraly + Wagner have skated together (14:14 of 5v5 ice time), Boston has the edge in:
- Shot attempts - 15-5
- Shots on goal - 10-4
- High-danger scoring chances - 10-3