Bruins notebook: Bruce Cassidy shakes things up

Bruce Cassidy said that he hasn’t yet decided on his lineup for Sunday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks at the Garden, but the Bruins’ coach gave an indication that he’s leaning toward a sizable shakeup with the lines he rolled out for Saturday’s practice.

While he bumped up Craig Smith to the second line with Charlie Coyle and Taylor Hall, he created an interesting bottom six. Tomas Nosek went back between Anton Blidh and Curtis Lazar — a combination that worked well when it was together — and then there was a new line with Trent Frederic centering Nick Foligno and Karson Kuhlman.

As the team went through its line rushes on Saturday, neither Erik Haula nor Jake DeBrusk left the bench.

A Haula scratch you could see coming. Expected to be the B’s third-line center, he was dropped to the fourth line in Wednesday’s game in Buffalo, where he remained on Friday and absorbed a minus-2 in the B’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers. A DeBrusk scratch would be a little more surprising, even though his failed forecheck was one of the several problems on the Rangers’ winning goal. For the most part, DeBrusk has played a more responsible game, though he needs to get his production up.

We’ll see what transpires on Sunday morning. But the hole that Haula’s subpar play is creating in the lineup is one of the more concerning issues. Signed to a two-year deal with an AAV of $2.375 million, Haula has 1-2-3 totals and is minus-5 in 17 games.

Asked if there was any thought to moving Haula to wing, Cassidy said that his deficiencies have been more basic than his position in the lineup.

“He could (go to wing), I just think his game right now is we need more compete out of him,” said Cassidy. “He tends to get moving more in the middle. We haven’t seen him on the wing so I guess you can’t rule it out, but right now we have some left-shot wingers, an abundance of them. That’s why he was in the middle. That’s what he was signed for, to anchor that line. It hasn’t worked out as well as we’d have liked. So could he go to the wing at some point? Yes.”

The Blidh-Nosek-Lazar line has shown in a still small sample size that it could be an effective fourth that can take shifts against other teams’ top units. But the potential Foligno-Frederic-Kuhlman line is an unknown commodity.

“We like to reward the effort players. Obviously there are guys who have been in the league who need some time, etc., but Freddy can bring a little more of a motor to the middle of the ice and Kuhlie played effective hockey when he was in. We just ran into some numbers eventually,” said Cassidy. “So maybe it’s time for them to go back in and appreciate their spot in the lineup and work hard to keep it. Maybe it can become an effective, hard-working line. We know Nosek no matter who he plays with tends to do a good job defensively. He broke down on the (Rangers’ winning goal). We had a lot of breakdowns. But typically he’s very responsible. He’s played well with Blidh and Lazar in that role.”

But more than anything, the B’s as they are currently constituted need to learn how to play winning hockey in all areas of the ice. The B’s have not been blown out in any of their seven losses, they’ve just not made the key play at the important juncture of the game.

“Timely goals, timely saves in this league. That’s what separates a lot of teams,” said Cassidy. “Even the first goal (by the Rangers at the end of the first period). It’s not a great goal on the goaltender (Jeremy Swayman), even though we broke down. It’s a stoppable puck, even though it’s a Grade A and we did have a breakdown. Timing of those in these games matters as well, when you get that big stop. And Sway made one with his paddle in the second. He made some stops. But those matter, too. You’ve got to have the confidence that your goalie is going to make that save when you break down, because every team breaks down. Most good teams have that. Then they get that save and they say, ‘That was our moment, we got that save, let’s go, let’s push.’ And all of a sudden you’re going the other way and good things happen. … That’s part of it. And part of it is the recognition going over the boards of, ‘Hey, we just scored. We’ve got momentum. We’ve got to win the draw and play behind them right away. Put them on their heels.’ Sometimes that’s on the coach to manufacture a line that in every situation that line’s going over the boards and sometimes it’s building it into the group. We’re a little in-between with that.”

Frederic working his way back from concussion

If Frederic is in, it will be his first game since suffering a concussion on a hit from Ottawa’s Josh Brown on Nov. 9. Frederic said it wasn’t so much the hit as it was banging the back of his head on the ice.

“Right away it was my vision that was a little funky. I had some headaches obviously but it was mostly my vision,” said Frederic, who had a concussion three years ago in Providence. “I felt fine when I got up to skate, but then the lights kind of went down so I had to get off.”

He’s looking forward to playing his natural position, if the lines stay the same for Sunday’s game.

“I hadn’t played wing till the start of last year really, in December, so it’s not even a year now. So I guess I’m adjusting back to my normal position (Sunday) if that’s what they go with, so I’m excited to play center if that’s what happens,” said Frederic.

Panarin fined

Artemi Panarin was nailed with a $5,000 fine for throwing his glove at Brad Marchand near the end of Friday’s 5-2 Rangers win over the Bruins. What precipitated the contretemps is still not clear.

The Athletic’s Arthur Staple reported, according to a source, that Marchand made some sort of comment regarding Panarin’s issues with Vladimir Putin‘s Russian government “along the lines of, ‘No one likes you there.'” Panarin took a three-week leave of absence last year after a smear story was spread by former NHL enforcer and KHL coach Andrei Nazarov that Panarin beat up a woman in a Riga hotel in 2010-11. Panarin immediately denied the story and there has been no proof that it was true.

Panarin told reporters who cover the Rangers on Saturday that he didn’t understand what Marchand said until he heard something about Russia.

“That’s why I lost my mind,” said Panarin.

Apparently, the league has not found whatever Marchand said to be worthy of disciplinary action. …

Linus Ullmark, who had to be scratched from his scheduled start in Buffalo on Wednesday with an unspecified injury, said he’s ready to go for Sunday’s game against Vancouver. He was sporting new pads with the Boston skyline in Saturday’s practice.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3xwuFu1