Weighing the reward (and risk) of reuniting ‘Perfection Line’ for Bruins

Jim Montgomery — like most individuals who have kept a keen eye on the NHL over the years — was already well-aware of the kind of damage that a line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak could unleash on the ice when grouped together.

With Bergeron's refined details down both ends of the ice, Marchand’s playmaking talent and Pastrnak’s howitzer of a shot, Boston’s tried-and-true top line has held court as a two-way buzzsaw and arguably the most effective forward grouping in the league for half a decade.

But with Boston’s topheavy scoring output often serving as an Achilles heel for this club during previous postseason failures, Montgomery opted to split up the “Perfection Line” entering his first season in Boston — slotting Pastrnak next to David Krejci and keeping Jake DeBrusk up with Bergeron and Marchand.

It was a roster reshuffle rooted in some encouraging sample sizes — with DeBrusk nearly putting up a 30-goal pace last year next to 37 + 63, and Krejci putting up some video-game numbers in 2021 (Boston outscored opponents, 14-1, in 193:13 of 5v5 TOI) when he was skating alongside Taylor Hall. 

But so far this season, that top-six switcheroo hasn’t yielded the results that both Montgomery and the B’s have expected.

Yes, the Bruins still rank first in the league with 4.00 goals scored per game, but a lot of that scoring output has been a byproduct of another strong power-play unit (25.4% success rate) and a surge of secondary scoring out of the gate (20 different goal scorers over 16 games).

Especially when looking through the lens of 5v5 play, Boston’s top-six unit hasn’t nearly tilted the ice in favor of their club as one might expect. 

Despite having 73.8% of their on-ice starts in the offensive zone, a Hall-Krejci-Pastrnak line has only been on the ice for three Bruins goals over their 71:33 of 5v5 ice time, while also coughing up three goals down the other end of the ice.

Perhaps more surprisingly, the Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk line has been on the ice for zero Bruins goals over their 50:46 of 5v5 ice time. They haven’t necessarily been a liability, with opponents scoring just one goal over that extended stretch of 5v5 ice time, but Boston needs a lot more tangible offense from that top grouping. 

Given that dearth of production, Montgomery opted for the good ol’ “break glass in case of emergency” maneuver for Boston’s lineup — reuniting the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line on Saturday up in Buffalo.

"I mean, we haven't been generated enough five on five,” Montgomery said. “And I've put them together a little bit and they've generated five-on-five goals for us. We need more production five on five in general. I mean, the Nosek-Foligno has been our most productive five-on-five line our last six games.”

 Of course, it’s to be expected for the Bruins to reunite that top line in various in-game situations, especially when Boston is in search of a game-tying goal in the closing minutes of a game. It’s a similar vein as Montgomery rolling out a Lindholm-McAvoy super-pairing when needing to lock down a one-goal contest. 

But after a win against the Sabres in which the “Perfection Line” toyed with Buffalo en route to a highlight-reel tally in the third period, Montgomery opted to start Sunday’s matchup against the Canucks with that same 63-37-88 personnel. 

Given what they showcased up in Buffalo, it was tough for Montgomery to turn away from that grouping for a full game. 

"They're just dominant at both ends of the ice,” Montgomery said. “You got three players like that together, like that play last night, that's a pretty special play.”

And sure enough, even if they didn’t account for a 5v5 goal, the Perfection Line once again thrived against the Canucks on Sunday — with Boston holding a 10-2 edge in shot attempts during their 7:45 of 5v5 ice time.

If the Bruins are looking to unlock more 5v5 offense out of its forward corps during this recent lull, keeping the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line together sure seems like a sound strategy to take. 

But Montgomery and his staff will also need to avoid falling down the slippery slope that comes with sticking with that line for the long haul, given that the best way for this team to reach its highest ceiling likely comes with a more balanced top-six grouping.

Of course, it’s tough to split up 63-37-88 when they’re producing like this, but the Bruins will also need to make sure that key cogs like Hall, Krejci and DeBrusk are also not getting lost in the shuffle. 

Yes, you could make the case that the latter three all have the talent to form an impressive scoring line in their own right. But the Bruins might need to sacrifice some assured production in order to get other key cogs like Krejci and Hall rolling as the schedule begins to ramp up.

It wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if Montgomery opts to give the Hall-Krejci-DeBrusk line a bit of a longer leash to see if it can get rolling, considering that trio has only logged 16:19 of 5v5 ice time together.

But if that revamped second line can’t gel in short order, Montgomery might have to reverse course in order to try to spread the wealth in the offensive zone once again. 

OTHER NOTES

Swayman returns to practice

Some good news from B’s practice on Tuesday, as Jeremy Swayman took part in practice without any restrictions for the first time since going down with a lower-body injury.

Swayman, who exited Boston’s OT win over the Penguins back on Nov. 1 after appearing to injure his knee, is “ahead of schedule,” according to Montgomery — although he wasn’t sure if the B’s netminder could be in play to return to game action on either Thursday or Saturday against the Flyers or Blackhawks, respectively. 

That being said, Montgomery didn’t rule out either of those dates, noting that the team will need to see how Swayman responds on Wednesday before starting to chart out a concrete recovery timeline. 

Still, even if Swayman isn’t cleared to return until, say, next week — it sure feels as though both he and the team dodged a bullet when it comes to the severity of this injury.

“You don’t want to think about (it being worse),” Swayman said of his injury. “I’ve never been carried off the ice before, and I never want to again. I was feeling it out right when I got off the ice, and being able to put weight on it was definitely a positive. Again, I just let the Pittsburgh staff take over, their docs and stuff, and listened to what they had to say. I was really, really fortunate to be in the position I am.”

Bruins hire independent firm to review player-vetting process

A week and a half after their controversial signing of Mitchell Miller, the Bruins announced on Tuesday that they have hired an independent law firm to investigate the organization's player-vetting process.

The Bruins announced back on Nov. 6 that they would cut ties with Miller, less than 72 hours after the signing was first announced — with Cam Neely noting the following day that the team’s vetting process for Miller was “concerning”, especially when it came to the organization’s failure to contact the victim of Miller's bullying, Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, and his family.

As of Tuesday evening, no internal discipline has been announced by the team.

Here is the team's statement announcing the review, which will be led by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch:

The Boston Bruins strive every day to live our values and meet the high standards our associates, fans and community have come to expect. This includes treating everyone inside and outside our organization with dignity and respect. We recently fell short of our high standards and disappointed both ourselves and many in our community. Moving forward, we are committed to ensuring that our values are reflected in everything we do as an organization, including our process for vetting future players.

As part of this commitment, the Boston Bruins have retained an experienced and respected team of professionals, led by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch of the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, to conduct an independent review of our player-vetting process. This will help us ensure that our process going forward reflects our core values. The Bruins organization will fully cooperate with the independent review team and will publicly disclose the results of the review upon its completion.