Cave next in line at forward for Bruins

From the time the puck was dropped on the Providence Bruins’ season, Colby Cave had been the best player among the Baby B’s.

BRUINS NOTEBOOK

Last night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 23year-old center was getting the chance to prove that what he was accomplishing at the AHL level — 6-12-18 totals in 15 games thus far for Providence — can translate well into the NHL

Bruce Cassidy was Cave’s first pro head coach in Providence.

“We always thought there

was something. When he first started there, when I was there, we had (Alex)

Khokhlachev,(Seth) Griffith to take a lion’s share of those minutes on the power play but we saw a little something in him and we thought eventually he’d get there,” Cassidy said. “(His offensive game) has grown quite a bit. I think he’ll never lose his 200-foot game and his ability to play that. He’s a smart player. He’ll play above the puck. The question mark we always had here was, ‘Is the pace of the game going to get to him if he plays extended minutes?’ ”

Cave’s career best in points in Providence came two years ago when he had 13-22-35 totals in 75 games.

“This summer I knew I wanted to be a guy they could depend on,” said the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Cave. “Obviously with a lot of guys leaving to free agency and going to other teams, and we’ve had some injuries —

(Jordan Szwarz) got hurt down there — the next guy has to step up and start producing. I think a few guys down there have done well and there are some young guys down there who have promising attributes. So yeah, I decided to work on that and I’m playing with a little more confidence and things are working out.”

Bjork healthy scratch

With Cave drawing into the lineup, Anders Bjork was a healthy scratch. Bjork has not been able to score consistently at the NHL level. He has 1-2-3 totals in 19 games.

“Some of it is we’re trying to build better habits into his game away from the puck. I think he’s worked real hard on managing, not turning it over, play his off wing, defending, working back to the right areas,” Cassidy said.

JFK to top line

Cassidy rejiggered his lines again last night, putting Marchandand David Pastrnak back together with Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson centering them, at least to start the game.

“He has his hands full, with where he was,” Cassidy said after the morning skate. “He’s responded well. We’re going to move him up. Part of that is we’re at home, where we can control the matchup . ... But also, I thought his response was very good when we moved him up in Detroit. He played harder. Literally broke two or three teeth and kept right on playing. But he was in the right spot. I thought he skated well, which is what our main message is with JFK. If you’re skating, everything will fall into place.” ...

John Moore, out three games with a lower body injury, was back in the lineup. With youngsters Jeremy

Lauzon and Connor Clifton playing well, Steve Kampfer

— who had a couple of costly pinches in Colorado and Detroit — was the healthy scratch on the back end . ...

With Jaroslav Halak playing against the Penguins, Tuukka

Rask will get the start against the Canadiens tonight in Montreal.