At times on Saturday afternoon, the Boston Bruins were moving the puck around like hockey's version of the Harlem Globetrotters. It remains to be seen whether the team is that good or the winless Philadelphia Flyers are just that bad, but it was great to see regardless. The answer likely lies somewhere in the middle, but their 5-1 win brought an extremely compelling development with their new-look second line.
While beating the Utah Mammoth 6-1 on Thursday, the Bruins saw their captain David Pastrnak finally score his first goal of the season in a four-point outing. The first line looked great, Elias Lindholm looked serviceable as a third-line center, and the powerplay caught fire. The only problem was that the new second line of Fraser Minten, Marat Khusnutdinov, and JJ Peterka didn't have a great debut.
Marco Sturm wasn't going to move off of his lines after a 6-1 win, giving Peterka's new trio a second look, which they made the most of in Saturday's victory by scoring three of the team's five goals. Mason Lohrei finished a beautiful passing play by Minten and Peterka for the team's second goal, while Khusnutdinov added some insurance off of a pass from Minten.
Minten then recorded his third point of the game with a great effort, putting a bow on a great afternoon for the second line and a broader idea that the team's offensive depth might be better than expected. Some were uncertain about Sturm's new-look second line, but it doesn't seem like the players had too many concerns, according to Ryan Bosworth via X.
"“It was a good second game. Kinda talked after last game (about) some support stuff, (we were) just throwing away pucks. You get familiar a little bit more… fun to play with.”"Fraser Minten
Bruins' second line has some great qualities
Boston's second line is young, but they have the pieces to form a great trio. They have Khusnutdinov, who has speed and some grit, which he utilizes to forecheck hard and hunt pucks. Once the Russian gets puck control, it's up to him to get the puck to the highly skilled Peterka, who can either score by himself or get the puck to Minten, who is a sneaky-good finisher.
The line is also responsible thanks to Minten, who is already a great two-way center in his sophomore season, and Khusnutdinov, who also has some good defensive ability. The pair were good last season with Pastrnak in limited opportunities because they complement skilled players well, and now they can do the same thing with a slightly faster winger, while the captain props up his own line.
It's only early in Sturm's line shuffling, but outscoring opponents 11-2 over the first two games is promising, to say the least.
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