Boston Bruins: Great Chemistry Between Charlie Coyle And Sean Kuraly

The Boston Bruins went back to pairing Sean Kuraly and Charlie Coyle in Game 4 versus the Canes and their chemistry paid dividends.

Funnily enough, this isn’t the first time the Boston Bruins have looked to Sean Kuraly and Charlie Coyle to produce on the third line. In last season’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, they delivered great results in the limited time they spent together too.

Perhaps the key reason not to have them together is the fact it weakens the fourth line in terms of face-offs, though Par Lindholm has done an admirable job in the past two games, so maybe that’s less an issue than you’d think.

Instead, by pairing Sean Kuraly who usually plays center with Charlie Coyle, the third line has two options when it comes to face-offs, thus bettering our chances of gaining possession, even if one of them is tossed from the circle.

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Far from just offering face-off value, the forechecking and behind-the-net pressure that Sean Kuraly puts teams under perfectly suits Coyle, who is able to ease up a little in that regard.

Couple that with the most recent addition to their group, Jack Studnicka and the unit is a fast moving, forechecking unit that really makes it hard to roll out a third defensive pairing as you might like to against the Boston Bruins’ bottom-six.

When Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly were on-ice together in the series with the Hurricanes, they had an even-strength Expected Goals For of 57.13% and an offensive face-off winning percentage of 58.33%, along with creating 4 high-danger chances.

When this pair was out there together, the Boston Bruins conceded just the 1 goal at even-strength while managing to grab a short-handed goal when out on the penalty-kill.

Something about this two together just seems to click, whether it’s on the penalty-kill or at even-strength. Perhaps it’s the fact that they can play center interchangeably, whatever it is, it stands to reason that they make one another more dangerous when together.

To be able to move a player like Sean Kuraly up from the fourth line is exactly the sort of depth you need to win a Stanley Cup. Let’s also not forget that Coyle has run with the first-line comfortably when called upon too.

Bruce Cassidy should definitely look to keep these two together as we head into the second round.

Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.