Brown through revolving door
Returns to third defensive pairing mix alongside Reilly
The Bruins’ search for the best third defense pairing was set to continue in Columbus on Monday night.
With Derek Forbort nursing a lower body injury and Josh Brown returning from his brief upper body injury, coach Bruce Cassidy went with a third pair of Mike Reilly and Brown, who had played together in last Thursday’s blowout win over the Devils before Brown had to leave the game in the second period.
Though Cassidy had moved Matt Grzelcyk down to the third pairing in the B’s win over the Blue Jackets on Saturday, he’s pretty much set on his top four of Charlie McAvoy-Hampus Lindholm and Grzelcyk-Brandon Carlo.
But he’s got four D-men to fill two spots on the third pair, and the competition is on. He’s already looked at Forbort with Connor Clifton, who was set to get his third straight scratch since his rough outing against the Maple Leafs last Tuesday. Cassidy had the brief look of Reilly-Brown, and a pairing of Forbort and the left-shooting Reilly on the right side got look-see as well.
The hope, surely, is that the competition brings out the best in all the players, though Cassidy expects he’ll have a couple guys itching to get back in there.
“No one’s happy when they come out. Everyone probably feels like they deserve to be in on a regular basis. I don’t have a problem with that mentality,” said Cassidy. “When you go in, then you have to prove it. That’s where you have to back that up. But they’re all good teammates, they’re all good Bruins. They’ve accepted that we are going to go through this process of looking at some guys for our third pair and that’s just the way it is. They were told that. They were explained that when Brown was traded here and Lindholm as well that there would be some mixing and matching until we see what we want to see at the end of the day and make a final decision. That could come right down to the wire with health and different things. We believe our top four is set, but that could change too I guess. But those guys have been fairly consistent for us over the years and this year.”
The player Cassidy knows the least is Brown, the rugged right shot obtained from Ottawa who brings size and adds an element pugilism. On his first shift as a Bruin, Brown dropped the gloves with New Jersey heavyweight Mason Geertsen.
“He answered the bell and physically he was fine, but he didn’t get through the game. He took that hit where he didn’t see the guy coming from his blind side. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a long look at him,” said Cassidy. “What we want to see from him is a good defender, adapt to our system, be good around the front of the net in terms of boxing out and have a good first pass. We always want that from our D. We want them to make a good first pass. We know he’s not going to be a guy who’ll be up the ice like Lindholm. He’s more of a stay-at-home guy. And then how is his stick and positioning on the (penalty kill)? That’s another areas we have to see if he can contribute.”
Brown said that, in the game against Jersey, he did not feel right after taking the hit and did not come out for the third period. But he said he took the “necessary precautions and necessary tests.” He has a couple more practices under his belt and is ready to resume the competition.
“First and foremost, we’re all teammates and we’re all rooting for each other but there’s a bit of a competition on the back end right ow and I just think you have to have your ‘A’ game every night,” said Brown after the morning skate. “And if that’s talking more with your partner or just getting on the same page with certain plays….Reills and I played a little bit together in Ottawa, but it’s just getting used to playing with each other again now and finding out each other’s tendencies on certain plays. Everyone’s different.”
As for his quick fisticuffs, he said it wasn’t planned but “the opportunity just presented itself.”
“It was probably a good way to introduce myself to my teammates and the fan base as well,” said Brown.
This and that
Cassidy said that Craig Smith was playing with some kind of injury but was in Monday’s lineup. It sounded as if Tuesday’s lineup could be a little different.
“We’ll try to manage some workloads. We have pretty much a healthy group, though a little bit nicked up,” said Cassidy. “So there’s a little bit of that thought process, especially with the back-to-back. That would be about it. We want to keep playing good, winning hockey and build on what we’ve done recently.”…
The B’s, 18 points clear of the highest non-playoff team in the Eastern Conference (the Islanders) going into Monday’s game against the Blue Jackets, are comfortably in a playoff spot. But they will have their mettle tested down the stretch. After they get past the back-to-back in Columbus and Detroit, they have 12 games remaining, nine of which will come against playoff teams, including a pair each against the Penguins and Blues …
David Pastrnak entered Monday’s game two points shy of 500 career points.