Have the Bruins struck gold with their latest middle-6 forward combinations?

Bruce Cassidy had some decisions to make on Tuesday night. 

With David Krejci tabbed as a game-time decision for Boston’s home matchup against the Golden Knights, Cassidy figured that any lineup tinkering was going to come right down to the wire. 

But after Krejci skated without hesitation during warmups, the decision was rather easy to slot Krejci back in after a two-game absence. Par Lindholm was the likely one to be relegated to the bench, but Cassidy’s primary conundrum focused more on what supporting cast he was going to surround his veteran center with. 

Based on prior history, sticking Krejci with Jake DeBrusk seemed like a logical fit. After all, that duo has logged an impressive 1,651 minutes of 5v5 ice time together over the past three seasons. 

Cassidy had other plans, however.

When Krejci hopped over the boards on Tuesday, Danton Heinen was to his left and Karson Kuhlman was to his right. Both wingers have had extensive reps with Krejci over the last couple of seasons — with Kuhlman serving as Krejci’s RW during the final stretches of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

But that trio was largely untested as a line, having recorded just over two minutes of 5v5 ice time together prior to Tuesday’s matchup.

Cassidy’s call might have been a bit unorthodox, but his postgame rationale was sound.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” was the mantra from the B’s bench boss — and there’s been plenty to be encouraged about when it comes to a couple of new-look groupings in Boston’s middle-six unit.



“Well, he was going to be a game-time decision first and foremost, so we just plugged him in where Lindholm was, that’s one reason,” Cassidy said of the decision to play Krejci with Heinen and Kuhlman. “And then we were going to evaluate as the game went on, how we were playing. He’s playing with Kuhlman before and Heinen, so it wasn’t too strange, so to speak. And I liked (Charlie) Coyle’s line in Pittsburgh a lot, I thought they did a real good job. So I just kind of kept things the way they were.” 

The results clearly paid off for both combinations — given that each line cashed in with goals against Marc-Andre Fleury and the Golden Knights.

Coyle’s line — featuring him sandwiched between a pair of speedy wingers in DeBrusk and Anders Bjork — has settled into a groove over the last couple of games, with both wingers benefiting from the puck-possession prowess that Coyle brings in the O-zone. 

Along with DeBrusk’s tally at 4:26 in the third period, that grouping also excelled at limiting opposing chances, with Boston holding a 7-2 edge in shot attempts over Vegas during their 8:16 of 5v5 TOI together.


That puck-possession dominance extends far beyond Tuesday’s win. When the DeBrusk-Coyle-Bjork grouping has been deployed over 33:46 of 5v5 ice time, the Bruins have held a commanding 37-16 edge in shot attempts, to go along with a 17-6 edge in scoring chances. 

There are still some concerns with that grouping as far as finishing chances go, as Boston has only scored two goals during that 33:46 stretch — even if the Coyle line has had the luxury of 82.35% of its faceoffs coming in the offensive zone. 

But if this Heinen-Krejci-Kuhlman crew can build off of Tuesday’s game, the Coyle line might be sticking together for quite some time regardless.

Whereas the Coyle line has primarily been handed consistent O-zone starts, the same can’t be said for Krejci’s new crew on Tuesday. In total, just 20.00% of Heinen-Krejci-Kuhlman’s faceoffs came in the offensive zone against Vegas, but Boston still managed to tally a pair of 5v5 goals in that line’s 8:45 of 5v5 ice time.

One goal — a blue-line blast from Jeremy Lauzon — was generated off of a strong forechecking sequence from Kuhlman and Krejci, while Krejci’s eventually game-winner at 12:18 in the third was the byproduct of Kuhlman crashing Vegas’ net and Heinen retrieving a puck down low. 

Nothing flashy, but awfully effective.

https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1219821111153741824

“He's a playmaker. I think I just have to stick to what I do and get in there as a hard F1, get some pucks back to him and let him create,” Kuhlman said of playing with Krejci.  That's what he's great at and I thought we did a pretty good job of it tonight."

https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1219815194890833927

Much as we discussed earlier this week with the Bruins’ recent influx of young talent, it remains to be seen how long this new-look middle-six group lasts, especially once we get past the trade deadline. 

But, at least for now, it’s hard to not be encouraged by the results of Cassidy’s latest reshuffle. For all the talk of slotting down David Pastrnak in an effort to balance the team's scoring — who knew that splitting up Krejci from DeBrusk could potentially yield even greater results. 

"They're very smart,” Krejci said of playing with Kuhlman and Heinen. “It's fun to play with smart guys and make plays. It doesn't work all the time, but the effort is there. I think we can always be better, but I thought it was a good game."