Before the second game on their three-game road trip on Saturday night against the Utah Hockey Club, Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery made a few tweaks to his lines. He moved Justin Brazeau, who was a healthy scratch last Wednesday night against the Colorado Avalanche to the second line with Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle.
That experiment didn't last long before Montgomery moved his lines around in a 2-1 overtime loss. Tuesday night, the Black and Gold close out their trip against the winless Nashville Predators and once again, Montgomery is shifting things around again.
Jim Montgomery hitting the panic button ahead of Predators
On Tuesday morning the Bruins held their morning skate ahead of their game with the Predators and Montgomery made some pretty line adjustments in his top nine. Looking to get more production, it looked like there was some major shifting according to Jim McBride of the Boston Globe.
#Bruins AM lines, D pairs, goalies:
— Jim McBride (@globejimmcbride) October 22, 2024
Marchand-Lindholm-Pastrnak
Jones-Coyle-Frederic
Zacha-Poitras-Geekie
Beecher-Kastelic-Koepke
Brazeau, Tufte
McAvoy-Lindholm
Zadorov-Carlo
Peeke-Lohrei
Wotherspoon
Swayman
Korpisalo
Ok, so there were interesting lines, to say the least. The Bruins' third-year coach moved Marchand to the top line with Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak. Pavel Zacha, who was on the top line, was shifted down to the third line with Matthew Poitras and Morgan Geekie. The second line was Max Jones and Trent Frederic alongside Coyle. In a no-brainer move, the fourth line was kept intact as they have been their best line through the first six games.
What does line shifting mean? It means that we are about to play game No. 7 on the season and Montgomery is already hitting the panic button. He said he was trying to support players and get some chemistry going.
“Trying to generate some chemistry,'' said Montgomery after the morning skate. "It’s been inconsistent our first six games so we’re just looking at different ways to support certain players, get other players on their toes."
One goal the other night, one goal in a 2-1 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings earlier this month, it's clear that Montgomery is a little worried about the lack of offense at times his team has failed to generate, but making big shifts this early in the season is a classic panic-button push.