New trio on fourth line shows good chemistry
BRUINS NOTEBOOK
There weren’t many positives to take out of the Bruins final preseason game on Saturday night, but the biggest came from a surprising place.
The fourth-line trio of Noel Acciari, Chris Wagner and Joakim Nordstrom was the most energized of the game and had some of the best offensive chances for the Bruins in a 4-1 loss to the Flyers at the Garden.
That chemistry continued to build ahead of Wednesday’s season opener in Washington, specifically with Nordstrom.
“(Nordstrom) kind of got banged up in China, so I think we had like one practice together, but he’s an easy guy to play with,” said Wagner. “He works hard and, you know, he has some skill too. So yeah, I think we started to feed off each other after the first couple shifts, and obviously I played with Noel when I was little too (on the South Shore Kings junior team). So it’s nice to have him out there; there’s a comfort level there for sure.”
Wagner and Acciari have pasts that go all the way to childhood, but Nordstrom was thrown in the mix with the duo for the first time at practice Friday. The Swede showed flashes of speed and some passing ability, dishing a couple of good feeds to give Wagner good looks.
“I think we created a bunch of chances,” said Wagner. “Made a great play in the first that I didn’t bury, but yeah, we all work hard and Noel works really hard too, so it’s easy to read off each other. We kind of keep things simple, so it’s nice.”
The second and third lines are still in flux approaching the first game of the season, but the fourth line stabilized itself on Saturday.
Acciari has been banged up throughout camp, but the Bruins clearly want him in a bigger role after using him consistently on the power play as well.
He was sharp against Philadelphia, and his energy meshed well with Wagner and Nordstrom. Even with all the uncertainty around the forwards, there might be something there.
Right man for job
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy wasn’t pleased with either Ryan Donato or Danton Heinen on the second line right wing on Saturday.
Heinen, who began camp on a strong note, started with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk but was swapped for Donato, who did end up with a man-advantage goal, but neither winger made a strong case for the role.
“Part of that was by design,” said Cassidy. “At some point we’ve talked about who was the best fit there, and I thought Danton was having a tough time, so we tried Ryan there and put Danton on his forehand. Sometimes that frees you up to be a little stronger on the puck. Didn’t work out that way, but we figured we’d look at that.”
With the way Anders Bjork played in his return to the lineup, getting a look there might not be out of the question.
Blue line possibilities
If Torey Krug can’t go on Wednesday after suffering a lower-body injury in the exhibition finale, it seems Urho Vaakanainen could get a shot, even with Matt Grzelcyk recovering enough to skate today.
There’s plenty of options on the blue line, but Vaakanainen showed some chemistry with John Moore, who was playing on his off side with the 19-year-old.
The other pairing of Charlie McAcoy and Zdeno Chara had some struggles against the Flyers, but historically they’ve worked well together, so keeping the rest of the pairs as intact as possible might be the way to go.