With Sean Kuraly at center, Boston's 3rd line has finally found an identity - and is catching fire at right time

His struggles this season notwithstanding, something was going to have to go very, very wrong somewhere along the line in 2021 if Sean Kuraly wasn't penciled somewhere into Bruce Cassidy's lineup come the postseason.

For years now, Kuraly has excelled as Boston's fourth-line pivot — with his blend of speed and size allowing him to thrive as a "one-man cycle" in the offensive zone, as Cassidy described it back in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even though Kuraly has only lit the lamp 23 times over his NHL career, the Dublin, Ohio native seems to pick a great time to land his punches in the O-zone. Through 46 playoff games, Kuraly has scored nine times and recorded 19 points — with most of those tallies coming in either one-goal contests, deadlocked bouts or pivotal contests in the span of a seven-game series.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1120856879180275712

Add in Kuraly's skills on the PK, and the 28-year-old forward was going to be a relied-upon stalwart in Boston's bottom-six corps this postseason, even if this COVID-impacted season hasn't always gone according to plan for him.

Be it a lack of tangible offensive production (four points in first 35 games) or struggles with tilting the ice back in Boston's favor during their (admittedly daunting) matchups against top-six foes, Kuraly found himself bumped out of his fourth-line center spot down the stretch — making a switch over to wing once Curtis Lazar arrived via trade from Buffalo last month. Given Kuraly's natural talents, keeping him as a straight-line, puck-hounding presence on the wing seemed like a natural fit, especially alongside other hard-nosed skaters like Lazar and Chris Wagner.

But Cassidy had another gig in mind for his Kuraly. Sure, staying in the fourth-line pivot spot hadn't worked out — but what about a promotion?

It might seem like a bit of an odd path to take on the depth chart given some underwhelming results - but with Charlie Coyle struggling to gain traction at the 3C spot and Nick Ritchie suddenly a man without a line following the arrival of Taylor Hall, Cassidy set his sights on crafting a new identity on a third line that's spent most of the past four months without one.



While Kuraly may not be an offensive conduit — slotting the 6-foot-2 forward in the middle of a line next to a power forward in Ritchie and a more offensive-oriented Coyle on the wing could allow that third line to transform from a forward trio of misfit toys into a big-bodied, puck-possession grouping that could grind down opponents once the stakes are raised in the postseason.

"I think we needed a kind of shut down, turn-the-tide type of line," Cassidy said of the reasoning behind Kuraly's promotion. "And usually, those guys are straight-line guys that will keep the play simple and play behind the other team's D to just stop the bleeding a little bit, sometimes if you're not managing pucks, change the physical nature of the game. That was the ask with Ritchie, Kuraly and Coyle.

"You still value the scoring part in the bottom [six], just like we value the checking part in the top when they don't have the puck, but identify yourselves a little better. ... Playoffs are coming up, that style of play becomes more prevalent. I think you need some people to go in there and be able to do that in certain parts of the game or establish it early in the game for that matter." 

And while you'd be valid in some of your skepticism on how a line featuring a fourth-line regular in Kuraly, a big-boded power forward that's not entirely a line driver in Ritchie and a forward mired in a season-long slump in Coyle would be able to break out from the malaise that has hit each of them at times this season — the formula seems to be working, and a lot of it has to do with a suddenly rejuvenated Kuraly in the middle.

Much to Cassidy's relief, it seems as though Kuraly is catching fire at just the right time — scoring two goals and posting five points over his last nine games, including another tally during Boston's eventual 4-3 overtime loss to the Devils on Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1389753719936462855

While that third line hasn't been reinventing the wheel since getting assembled, they're certainly being rewarded for throwing their weight around on the forecheck and hovering around Grade-A ice — with Boston holding a 4-1 edge in goals scored and a 31-17 advantage in shots on goal when that grouping has been out on the ice in just 45:19 of ice time.

Kuraly, once mired in a goalless stretch that went on for 31 games, has elevated his game since taking on his lofty new role in the lineup, attacking the net more than he'd done all season during this recent resurgence. He potted his goal on Tuesday by driving to the net, but it was far from the only chance he generated against New Jersey — leading the club with nine shot attempts and adding three hits for good measure.

"We've all watched him for four years," Cassidy said of Kuraly. "I think we know what his strengths and weaknesses are. We're looking to build a bigger line. He had been struggling offensively, hadn't scored in a while. Not that we're looking for offense every night but all our players — we keep an eye on that stuff. And so was Coyle. So put them together, move Coyle to the wing. Bigger bodies, we've talked about that."

"We want to try to get a line like that if we could — all things being equal in terms of health. Richie was over there. So just a matter of a guy finding his game, he's found it later in the year. Good for us, good for him. He's going to the net, his goals are not atypical of how we would score them."



Of course, there's still four regular-season matchups separating the Bruins from the playoffs, and while this new-look third line has continued to string together strong shifts down the stretch, all it takes is an errant puck or late to hit to undo all of the progress that Boston's middle-six unit has made over the last few weeks.

Even though the 21-52-13 line dominated for most of the first two periods of Tuesday's matchup (Boston led in shot attempts, 11-1, during their 7:55 of ice time), they were broken up for most of the third period due to injury — with Coyle exiting the game after a shot from Brandon Carlo struck him while the forward was, on brand, scrapping down low and trying to screen MacKenzie Blackwood near the crease. And while Kuraly offered a shred of optimism regarding Coyle's status, we won't get a more tangible update until Thursday at morning skate.

"Man, he's been playing some good hockey, and it's been fun to play with him and Rich," Kuraly said of Coyle. "And losing him definitely puts a kink in it, I guess. You got to mix it up. The three of us felt really good together. But, there's a lot of good players on this team. ... Just hoping Charlie's alright. I think he'll be fine. But it's kind of a bummer to lose a guy like that who's playing really well."

Come the postseason, Boston will certainly welcome any and all contributions that the likes of Kuraly, Ritchie and (hopefully) Coyle generate on that third line — even if they're not expected to shoulder the same scoring burden as both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci's lines.

But for Cassidy, so long as Kuraly and Co. continue to stick to their identity and play to their strengths, winning hockey is sure to follow. That may not necessarily equate to highlight-reel tallies, but you need more than just skill-centric dynamos in your lineup to help push you through the gauntlet of the postseason.

And if Boston is going to orchestrate another deep playoff run, it's just about a given that Kuraly is going to have his fingerprints all over it.

"He's been going to the net a lot lately, getting those bang-bang plays," Cassidy said. "And that's how he's going to score goals. ... That's how he's going to create offense this time of the year. Those goals are important. You know, our D are doing a little better job of getting pucks through, shooting for sticks. So he could benefit from that, being a bigger body around the net.

"So those are the things we know about him and what we've seen. We were hoping it would come together with some offense, but most importantly, be a good 200-foot line and again, hard to play against and physical. We've gotten both sides of it."