B’s fourth line a work in progress
The Bruins made a major offseason push to upgrade their bottom six, one of the main culprits in their loss to the New York Islanders in the playoffs.
And after signing Erik Haula, Nick Foligno and Tomas Nosek, some of the early returns have been good. The third line of Haula between Jake DeBrusk and Foligno has looked very promising, even if they haven’t yet cemented their status as an official line combination.
The fourth line? Well, not so much, at least not yet. Coach Bruce Cassidy has identified a group of four players — Trent Frederic, Nosek, Curtis Lazar and Chris Wagner — to fill three spots and, as yet, there’s been no single combination that has wowed.
In Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Rangers, the B’s went up 1-0 on a David Pastrnak goal. But on the very next shift, the line of Frederic, Nosek and Lazar was unable to sort out its defensive zone coverage. Right defenseman Nils Lundkvist had about 15 feet of wide open ice to fling a puck toward the net. It went wide and Ryan Strome was there on the left side to score off the end-boards carom. And just like that, the buzz the Garden crowd was feeling from its brilliant first power-play unit was doused.
That’s not what you’re looking for from a line that needs to give you strong defensive shifts.
But despite the ongoing growing pains, and knowing the kind of fourth line he envisions takes time to gel, Cassidy likes what he has to work with. He believes Nosek has been playing better as the preseason has gone. Lazar is moving well, finishing his checks and playing well on the penalty kill. And he thinks Wagner is moving better than he was at the end of last year.
“Freddy on the other side is probably a little behind those guys and rightfully so. He’s the youngest still trying to sort some things. He had some good moments where he took the puck to the net. We’d like to see him finish a few more checks like Lazar and to have him complete his game and go to all the areas,” said Cassidy on Sunday. “But to go to the whole group, I like it. We have four guys for three spots that have played there, and that’s not taking into account the (Karson) Kuhlman’s and (Anton) Blidhs of the world. So I think there’s good options down there. We’re trying to keep Nosek in the middle as much as possible. But if the other three are ahead and he has to move to left wing for, say, Freddy, then that’s what we’ll do. We’re going to play the guys that play the best, whoever gives us the best chance to win. But at the end of the day, we’d like to keep Tomas in the middle and get Freddy up to speed on the left wing and get him back to where he was last year where he was a regular contributor before he got sick.”
By nature, fourth lines can take a while to come together. Not only are they tasked to take key defensive shifts, those shifts are often against the other team’s best players. Those kinds of successful trios don’t usually reach peak cohesion in October.
“You throw three guys out there against (Patrice Bergeron’s) line and, I mean, good luck, right?” said Cassidy. “You have to have some chemistry and synergy in your checking game and defensive assignments to slow those guys down. That’s where it shows up. You’re playing against good players. The goal last night was from Strome, it was their best line, their top end guys. So if you’re not sorting through it quickly, it doesn’t take long.”
While he’s bullish on Nosek’s game and body of work in Vegas, he would like him to be a little more vocal.
“As a center, he’s a guy that has to be more communicative. And right now, I’m not sure he’s a vocal guy to begin with, but that’s the part we’ll sort out … That’s part of the job description,” said Cassidy.
While Frederic may not have any guarantees to be in the lineup, Cassidy does appreciate the edge and toughness that he can bring. He clearly wants it to work.
“It is (important). We’re Boston. It’s part of our culture. We feel like we’re going to stick up for one another and if things aren’t going our way, we’re going to make sure we have guys in the lineup that handle that part of that game, as long as it’s in the game. It does matter,” said Cassidy. “And then it’s opponent-driven. We can’t have teams come in here where our guys don’t feel we have enough of however you want to describe it, toughness, team toughness. I know it’s in the room where guys will stick up for one another. We’ve got new guys who are willing to do that, guys who have been around, guys who have been taught that. But some nights that will be less important to others. But in general it’s something we take pride in. Chris Wagner’s done that for us in the past, too, he just doesn’t have Freddy’s size. But he’s willing to do it if need be. That’s important for him. And we’ve got a guy like Foligno and I’m sure he’ll do that if need be. We’ve tried to make sure we’ve added those pieces when you lose some guys like Kevan Miller on the back end. Someone else will have to step up and bring some of those elements if need be.”
Odds and ends
Jakub Lauko, out since early in camp with a lower body injury, skated for the second straight day, this time shedding the non-contact jersey. He should be available for Monday’s tilt in Philadelphia, where the B’s will have fewer regulars in the lineup than in the home games.
According to capfriendly.com, the B’s have place forward Zach Senyshyn on waivers.