Boston Bruins: New lines, new chances on B’s road trip.
Nov 22, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (37) in the face-off circle during the first period against the Montreal Canadiens at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Bruins have a rough road trip in front of them. The Black and Gold will playing some of the best teams in the league and the Bruins will still be missing Zdeno Chara and David Krejci. The current active roster will have a lot of young players in uniform.
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The biggest name on that rookie roster is eighteen year old David Pastrnak. This road trip will be the defining moment for Pastrnak this season. A strong performance will mean that the young Czech forward will keep wearing the spoked ‘B’. A mediocre showing will find him either going back to Providence or the Swedish league. Pastrnak has been assigned to the Bergeron line, and there are hopes this will spark some scoring opportunities for Boston. The B’s are underperforming in the goal department, and are having to rely a bit too much on defense to win games.
Bruins alternate captain Patrice Bergeron is eager to test out the newest winger on his line. “I’m looking forward to it,” said Bergeron of Pastrnak. “He’s a great player. His age definitely doesn’t show on the ice, that’s for sure. He’s definitely somebody that’s got a lot of poise with the puck making plays.”
“He brings it to the net, and he’s not afraid. He wants that puck, and that’s a good thing. He was great to play with last game, and definitely having a few practices is going to help us to increase that chemistry.”
With Pastrnak being moved to the new Bruins top line, it has relegated Reilly Smith back to the Bruins third line. Smith has been a streaky scorer for the Black and Gold, and it’s part of the reason why he’s been moved down with Chris Kelly. Smith told reporters that he had to score a goal tonight. A lot of the fans will be holding him to that prediction. Anaheim has been dealing with the same slew of injuries as the Bruins, and it’s expected to be yet another low scoring game for Boston.
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“It’s tough when you’re not scoring and putting pucks in the back of the net,” said Smith after practice. “That’s one of the focal points of my game. When things aren’t going well you have to grind it out, and get some dirty goals. Anaheim is a pretty tough team to play against, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from them tonight.”
The Bruins have had to move players around. Some of those moves were created by necessity due to injuries. Other lines were formed in order to generate better chances for scoring. Milan Lucic being paired with Loui Eriksson and Carl Soderberg has been one of those improvised lines that has done well for Boston.
“We’ve had to move some players around on our forward lines, and sometimes it takes a little while to develop chemistry. Sometimes once they start gelling together – which is the case with Lucic and Soderberg and Eriksson – they produce. We’re not scoring many goals right now. We’re certainly having some chances on most nights, but they’re not going in as much as we’d like them to.” – Claude Julien
Hopefully, the Bruins can pull at least five points out of this road trip. They’ll need every point to remain competitive as they are only five points behind the league leaders in scoring.