A day after Charlie McAvoy’s surprise return to the Bruins' lineup following a brief stint in COVID protocols, Boston received more good news regarding its blue line.
After not making the trek down to Raleigh for Game 5 of Boston’s first-round series with Carolina, Hampus Lindholm once again took to the ice on Wednesday at Warrior Ice Arena — and should be in line to play in a potentially decisive Game 6 on Thursday night at TD Garden.
"He's out there now,” Bruce Cassidy said of Lindholm’s status. “I anticipate he'll play. I could probably give you a better, more definitive answer in the morning. But he should be good to go and Charlie (as well), obviously — so we'll have a decision to make on the back end. All those, we'll make tomorrow. Obviously, first of all, we'll start with Lindholm and that domino effect with everyone else."
Given just how little the margin of error is for the Boston (now in a 3-2 series hole), rolling out a top D pairing that outscored opponents, 12-3, in 14 games during the regular season should offer a major lift for the Bruins, especially when factoring in Lindholm’s ability to break pucks out and pepper the net with shots from the point.
Shuffling the depth chart to accommodate Lindholm’s return stands as a no-brainer.
What does become a bit of a question, however, is who slots out of Boston’s starting group on defense?
Had we posed this question, say, a few weeks ago — Mike Reilly would have been the easiest candidate, given his play down the final stretch of the regular season.
After all, when Lindholm first joined Boston in late March following a trade with Anaheim, Reilly was often the odd man out — a decision made a bit easier to process given Reilly's unfortunate knack for D-zone gaffs this season.
But since returning to Boston’s lineup in Game 3, Reilly has actually been rather effective when it comes to sticking to his strengths (crisp first passes, clean breakouts), with Boston actually outscoring Carolina, 2-1, in Reilly’s 40:34 of 5v5 ice time.
And even though Reilly isn’t exactly known as a bruiser or physical behemoth, he has shown a bit more of a willingness to play the body in this series — blocking four shots in Tuesday’s Game 5 loss at PNC Arena.
And even though Derek Forbort has occasionally been relegated to the bench in instances where the left side of Boston’s D corps is crowded, Cassidy doesn’t expect to tweak a third pair of Forbort and Connor Clifton that has been as advertised against in Carolina.
No, if Boston is going to take out a blueliner to make room for Lindholm, it’s going to come down to Reilly or Matt Grzelcyk — a dependable foot solider in Cassidy’s D corps for years, but one who has been putting together middling returns throughout this series.
“Probably,” Cassidy said when asked if the expected scratch will come down to Reilly or Grzelcyk. “Because I think Forbort and Clifton — they looked a little fatigued last night, for whatever reason. They weren’t as clean, but I think they’ve been really good in this series for the most part as a pair that play their 15-16 minutes. … I think Forbort and Clifton, for what they’ve been asked to do, have delivered. They’ve done their part.
“So that’s something we’ll talk about. With Lindholm going in, he adds some elements that Grizz and Reilly bring. That’s where Forbort’s a little unique vs. Reilly and Grzelcyk as far as what he brings, so we want to make sure we have that in our lineup. That’ll be a decision we’re gonna have to make tomorrow.”
And even though this hasn’t exactly been Reilly’s year — this decision, frankly, shouldn’t be all that tough.
For as much as Grzelcyk has excelled for years as a puck-moving asset on Boston’s roster — especially when paired with McAvoy — it’s impossible to ignore just how often Carolina has landed punches against the Charlestown native when he’s been out on a shift.
In what has been a concerning trend during previous Cup runs, Grzelcyk has labored when matched up against fast-paced, forechecking clubs like Carolina — with Boston getting outscored, 7-2, in Grzelcyk’s 71:34 of 5v5 ice time this series.
Game 5 might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back when it comes to Grzelcyk’s current spot in the lineup. Along with getting outmuscled by Andrei Svechnikov on an O-zone possession that eventually led to Carolina’s first goal of the evening, Grzelcyk was also whistled for two penalties.
“Grizz needs to find his legs here,” Cassidy said. “He's certainly played through an injury this year at times, but right now he's not in this morning for treatment — so he just has to find his legs and find a little bit of his dynamic part of his game — quick plays through the neutral zone, finding little seams by being agile, whether it's in all three zones. ... But that's it with Grizz.
“He's a good transition player. And that's where we need him to spring some guys and make some plays to help generate some offense for us. Defensively, he got himself in the box last night. That's typically not Grizz. He's not a guy that's in there much. That's been a bit of Mike Riley's issue. But again, we hope the stick fouls get cleaned up.”
When he’s on, Grzelcyk can be a useful weapon for the Bruins when it comes to his transition talents and his ability to orchestrate clean passages out of Boston’s own zone. And if the Bruins do manage to win two in a row and get past Carolina, the 28-year-old blueliner could once again become a valuable asset against opposing teams that don’t press quite as much as Rod Brind’Amour’s crew.
But right now, the Bruins need two victories if they want to keep their season alive. And in order to do so, they need the best six-man unit available to counter what Carolina brings with every shift.
And right now, Grzelcyk isn’t doing much to help this club weather the storm against the Hurricanes.
OTHER NOTES
Despite a so-so showing in net on Tuesday night, the Bruins are going to stick with Jeremy Swayman in a do-or-die Game 6, with the rookie netminder expected to make four straight starts for the first time in his NHL career.
While Cassidy doesn’t believe that Swayman is wearing down under the strenuous workload required during the postseason, he did offer some critiques when it came to the timing of the tallies that Swayman relinquished — such as the Jaccob Slavin’s opening goal just 6:11 into Game 5.
“I mean, I don't think he looked his best yesterday. What it comes down to, to me, is a little bit of what's happened — I'll go to Game 3: big, big saves early on DeAngelo and a breakaway with Martinook. Gives us a little bit of, 'Hey, let's find our game.' Even though they scored first, I thought those are important timely saves,” Cassidy said of Swayman. “Last night, we didn't get it. The first goal, we're on them — another good start.
“We need that save early on. It's just one you need to keep you in it. Didn't happen. Gives them a little bit of life in their building — they've lost two in a row, they get a lead, something we've talked about. ... But those are areas of the game that we got at home that we're going to need tomorrow. You're going to need that timely save early on.”
In a series against a team as adept at protecting a lead as Carolina is, Swayman and the B’s can’t afford to be chasing more games — especially in the immediate aftermath of some momentum-shifting tallies.