Boston Bruins: Will B’s Break Up Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand
Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien will have an interesting dilemma to solve once Patrice Bergeron gets back into the lineup.
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The Boston Bruins were able to come from behind on Thursday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Bruins put on a solid second half performance, putting in five unanswered goals in a 6-3 walloping of Columbus.
The Bruins win can be laid at the feet of the B’s improvised top line. Claude Julien chose to move David Backes to center, replacing the injured Patrice Bergeron. Backes had Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak on the wings, and that line dominated the second half of the game. The Backes line had 18 shots on goal, was a +16, had 12 points combined, and scored all six goals for Boston.
This certainly does make things a little interesting for the Boston Bruins. Most coaches wouldn’t break up a line that had such a white-hot start. So how will Claude Julien reorganize the top six once Bergeron is back?
Claude Julien should just stack the deck for the Black and Gold. Take the top six forwards and put them where they can do the most damage. That means putting Patrice Bergeron right back to where he was. Next to Brad Marchand.
Sure, there is an urge to keep the Marchand-Backes-Pastrnak line together. But Bergeron has years of chemistry with Brad Marchand and it would be insane to break up that duo. Team Canada thought so highly of them they were paired together throughout the World Cup Tournament.
So how will the Bruins put together their top six now?
Next: David Pastrnak Has Breakout Game Against Columbus
Bruins forward David Pastrnak said postgame how much he enjoyed the direction he was getting from Backes throughout the game. So, instead of putting Pastrnak with Bergeron and Marchand, move him to the second line with David Krejci and put Backes with him. That means promoting Ryan Spooner to the top line on the wing. Spooner will be with one of the best pairs in the NHL, and the Bruins will have two shockingly good lines.
The Bruins might as well put all their strength up front and push hard to keep the offense up. If the Bruins can keep this kind of offense up, they’ll find themselves back in the playoffs by the end of the season.