Boston Bruins: 3 takeaways from Monday’s 1-0 shutout loss to the Islanders
The Boston Bruins matched up with with New York Islanders last night, Monday, Jan. 18. Although they played much better than they did in their last game against the New Jersey Devils, they still struggled to score and ended up being shutout 1-0 by Semyon Varlamov and the rest of the Isles.
As I previously stated, the B’s played much better in this game, especially at 5-on-5. However, they still couldn’t find the back of the net. With Ondrej Kase out and now on injured reserve (IR) with an upper body injury, Coach Bruce Cassidy was forced to shuffle the lines — which seemed to be a good thing from the improved performances of several players.
With Kase out, rookie Jack Studnicka was back in the lineup. This game he was on the second line instead for the first. Additionally, Jake DeBrusk was moved up to the first line and Nick Ritchie was brought up to the second. Anders Bjork found himself back in the bottom-six on the third line. The only line that remained the same was the fourth with Trent Frederic, Sean Kuraly, and Chris Wagner.
With the lineup shaken up, Boston turned out their best overall performance of the season so far. Although they weren’t able to score, they created much more offensive chances than they had the previous two games and were able to sustain pressure in the offensive zone. Here are my three takeaways from the game.
3. Jeremy Lauzon was solid again for the Boston Bruins.
After a tough start to the season against the New Jersey Devils, defenseman Jeremy Lauzon has now put together two straight very good games.
In the first game of the season Lauzon started the game on the first defensive pairing with Charlie McAvoy. However, he wouldn’t remain their for the entire game as he would struggle.
Last game, Lauzon would once again start the game with McAvoy. But, unlike the first game, he would play a solid game and remain with McAvoy for the entirety of the matchup.
Last night, Lauzon once again played very well. Because of this he saw an increase in ice time and was actually second among the B’s defensemen in this category. Lauzon went from 18:05 in the second game against the Devils to 22:58 against the Islanders (this is also because Boston took two more penalties last night than in the previous game and Lauzon had four extra minutes of penalty kill time).
Lauzon finished the game with seven hits, two blocked shots, one giveaway, one shot on goal, and a -1 plus/minus (+/-).
2. Jake DeBrusk finally showed up (at least for a little) for the Boston Bruins.
After spending the first two games on his usual line of the second line with David Krejci and Kase, DeBrusk was moved up to the first line last night with Kase put on IR with an upper-body injury.
Through the first two games of the season, DeBrusk was basically invisible. Yes, he had three shots on goal in the first game, but they weren’t anything special and were close to being goals.
Last night, DeBrusk got the opportunity to play on the first line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. At first, DeBrusk looked up to the task of playing with these two as he helped create chances and was actually skating.
However, DeBrusk’s energy was inconsistent. Some shifts he was energetic, while others he slept walked through the shift.
Either way, this was DeBrusk’s best game of the season so far. However, if he can’t find his game soon, he may find himself in the bottom-six of the lineup or even as a healthy scratch.
DeBrusk finished last night with 15:10 of ice time, one takeaway, one shot on goal, and a -1 +/-.
1. Boston Bruins’ head coach Bruce Cassidy will have a tough decision to make when David Pastrnak returns.
With how some players like Frederic, Studnicka, and even Ritchie are playing right now, Cassidy will find it awfully difficult to find someone to take out of the lineup when David Pastrnak returns.
Frederic, to the surprise of some, has played his role on the fourth extremely well through the first three games. He has shown tenacity, maturity, and even has had several scoring opportunities while also setting up his line mates for chances. If he continues to play like this, Frederic will be impossible to take out of the lineup and might see a promotion instead.
Ritchie has also been playing much better than he did in his short run with the Bruins at the end of last season. He has had multiple high quality scoring opportunities from being in front of the net and has even cashed in on one of these opportunities. Ritchie’s ability to get to the dirty areas is why he found himself on the second line last night.
Although Studnicka’s time on the first line didn’t go as planned and didn’t last long, he played much better last night on the second line after being a healthy scratch last game. Being a right wing, Studnicka is the first option to come out of the lineup when Pasta returns. However, I think the team and Studnicka would be better served by taking out Wagner or even Kase depending on how he’s playing.
Right now, my two top options to come out of the lineup when Pastrnak returns are Wagner and Bjork. Although Wagner’s line has been arguably the best for the Black and Gold, he is replaceable. For Bjork, he has been inconsistent. He started off well in the first game of the season, but faded like the rest of the team. He was invisible the second game even though he started off on the first line, and was ultimately pretty good last night on the third line.
Ultimately, I think what Cassidy will have to do is go with what worked — keep the lineup the same if you won the previous game, but change something if you lost.
Next. Boston Bruins: Should they make a move for defenseman Keith Yandle?. dark
This type of issue isn’t a bad thing for a coach to have. It means he has options, and options are good. Every one of these guys are capable of playing in the NHL and playing in several different roles.