A top-6 reshuffle is not only reason Bruins’ offense is finally surging

When Bruce Cassidy finally made the call to fragment his top forward line two weeks ago, it was easy to discern what kind of vision he had mapped out for a balanced — and still lethal — top-six corps.

And sure enough, those scoring scenarios that Cassidy and his staff likely daydreamed about after swapping David Pastrnak and Craig Smith on the depth chart have translated into tangible results.

During Monday’s win over Washington, a second line retrofitted with a V12 engine in Pastrnak burned the Caps — with the B’s top sniper and Taylor Hall teaming up for a 2-on-1 counter-rush that left Vitek Vaneck frozen between the pipes.  

Just two days later, the Bruins' new-look top line burned the Habs by adhering to their own brand of hockey — with Smith serving as the perfect complement on a forward grouping whose bread and butter revolves around a relentless cycle game. 

While Smith’s shot off of a Patrice Bergeron feed might have bounced off the glass behind Montreal's net, the B’s Energizer Bunny in Brad Marchand was there to bat home the fluttering biscuit — standing as his second goal in a 15-second span.

Fair to say, Cassidy’s latest lineup switcheroo has worked wonders for the Bruins, who have now won six out of seven games since the calendar flipped to 2022.

A scoring surge has been the primary conduit that has sparked the Bruins’ recent resurgence, with Boston averaging 4.7 goals over this seven-game stretch. And as expected, players like Marchand (eight goals, 12 points in 7 games), Hall (eight points) and Pastrnak (5 goals) have led the charge. 

But they’re far from the only reason why a once-dormant B’s offense is finally hitting its stride. 

In total, the Bruins have buried 33 goals over the last seven games. And those tallies have come off the sticks of 16 different skaters — representing a breath of fresh air for a B’s team that traditionally has had to rely on its big guns for any semblance of a consistent scoring output. 

“It's tough to score five goals every night. Nobody does,” Cassidy said. “But we shouldn't be around two (goals) either. We should be somewhere in between and obviously some nights you're gonna run into a hot goaltender. I think at the start of the year, there were a lot of games that we'd walk out of here or walk out of a game on the road and their goalie would be First Star. 

“That hasn't happened as much lately. Some of that's on us taking advantage of our opportunities, hitting the net more, put more pressure on the goaltender and some of it is the goaltending kind of evens out at points. So I do believe this is closer to who we are, in terms of our pace of play.”

Over the last few weeks, Oskar Steen has served as a pleasant surprise as an offensive sparkplug on the third line, but he’s been far from the only contributor further down on the depth chart. 

Look no further than the rest of the scoresheet from Boston’s 5-1 win over a dreadful Habs team on Wednesday.

Yes, Marchand might have led the way with his fifth career hat trick, but the veteran winger was quick to credit Anton Blidh and a regularly jumbled-up fourth line for giving Boston the push it needed early in the contest. 

“Blidher changed the game for our group tonight. He went out and hit a couple of guys hard and drew a penalty and changed the whole momentum of the game,” Marchand said. “So that's what good teams have and we're finding that guys are buying in their roles and really taking control of them and we rely on different lines every night to create momentum for our group."

For years now, Blidh has largely been characterized as a spare part in Boston’s lineup configuration — a north-south bruiser that can carry out his duties as needed when drawn into the lineup. 

And sure enough, the 26-year-old winger was as advertised against Montreal, dishing out five checks in under 10 minutes of ice time.

But for as much as Blidh’s various stints up in the NHL would seem to paint the picture of a straight-line skater with little in terms of offensive pop, he’s changing that narrative this season — with the Providence call-up now up to eight points through 16 games. 

Blidh’s added scoring contributions could make for an interesting situation when Trent Frederic is cleared to return to the lineup, especially given how the rest of that fourth line is executing these days.

Tomas Nosek — back in the lineup after missing the previous three games due to COVID protocols — should remain entrenched at the 4C spot moving forward, with the veteran UFA pickup orchestrating Marchand’s opening tally with a slick feed across the O-zone. 

The other winger flanking Nosek in Curtis Lazar is not necessarily known for his offensive acumen either. But much like Blidh, Lazar is cashing in on chances and creating quality looks early and often since the B’s COVID-19 pause.

With his first career three-point showing (two goals, one assist) on Wednesday, Lazar is now up to six points in his last five games — with the forward’s forechecking efforts and knack for the net finally leading to much-needed results in the stat book. 

"It's tough ice to get to, for sure," Lazar said. "But you can't be denied. Sometimes it's going to go off me, sometimes you just got to take away the goalie's eyes — but I don't think there's a goalie in the world that enjoys trying to track a puck through a screen or a net-front presence. It's the hard ice for a reason because it's where the prime scoring chances (are)."

Frankly, we could burn the midnight oil harping on the multiple other B’s skaters that are finally pulling their weight offensively. 

Even with a few D-zone stumbles on Wednesday, Urho Vaakanainen has shown some poise since getting pressed into Boston’s lineup — with the young blueliner initially credited with Lazar’s second goal of the night via a shot just off the blue line. 

Jake DeBrusk returned to the lineup and created Lazar’s first goal off a shot from a similar spot. Matt Grzelcyk put forth a five-point night in Washington. The list goes on and on. 

Perhaps we will look back on this stretch months from now and rule that Cassidy’s decision to finally reshuffle his forward group was the jolt that the Bruins needed to right the ship this year.

And that very well could be the case (although it feels like a few other shoes need to drop).  

But the Bruins’ big guns aren’t doing it all on their own. 

And the sight of more and more scoresheets etched with contributions from all across the lineup might offer more relief to Cassidy than anything he could have dreamt of from his top-six unit. 

“We don't expect every guy to score every night throughout a lineup,” Marchand said. “But you have to bring something to the table that's gonna help the team win and whether that's puck battles in front or blocking shots or winning battles, being hard on the other team, being physical — whatever it is, you have to bring something. ... Again, the teams that go far in the playoffs and have big years and win the Cup are teams that are deep and have every line and all the D corps contributing.”