Progress for new third line
The new Bruins’ third line has not yet cemented its spot in the team’s attack just yet. A couple of bad shifts in a row and the grouping of left winger Danton Heinen, center Jakob Forsbacka Karlson and right winger Anders Bjork could just as easily become the former third line, like so many other combinations before it.
But based on the unit’s first two games of work, there is a chance this just might work. And if it does, then the B’s will have filled one of the two major holes they’ve been trying to plug since training camp opened in September.
In the B’s 4-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, the trio got the B’s on the board just 2:54 into the game. Though he didn’t pick up an assist, Forsbacka Karlsson’s work along the boards in the defensive zone helped free a puck up for Heinen, who carried the puck out of the zone and chipped it for the speedy Bjork to chase down. Once he did, Bjork sent a nifty backhand pass back to Heinen, who popped it past Malcolm Subban for the 1-0 lead.
The line has been together for two games, the B’s have nailed down four points and it’s a good bet that the trio will be back together when the B’s open their four-game road trip on Tuesday in Denver. That in itself is progress.
Coach Bruce Cassidy was not just pleased that they scored, but how they got on theboard.
“I thought they had a good weekend,” said Cassidy. “Obviously getting a goal helps when you’re young. That’s what you’ve done before you’ve gotten here. You’re used to getting on the scoresheet. You get frustrated when you don’t, so they got rewarded. It was a good goal. They did it the right way, started in the D-zone, they won a puck, they put it behind their D, they won a foot race and they got to the net. So it wasn’t lucky, it wasn’t a fluke. It was the right way to do things and they got rewarded for it, so hopefully that reminds them of how they need to play. Then after that, a few more pucks find them. They win some pucks and they start attacking the net.”
While Heinen and Bjork have both had some success at the NHL level, the biggest question mark right now is still the kid from Sweden they call JFK. There was no question that he was a disappointment in training camp, when the third-line center job was there for the taking but he didn’t do nearly enough to seize it. As camp was winding down, he was sent down before Trent Frederic, another hopeful for the job. And there were even a few raised eyebrows when he was recalled on Friday because he’d been inconsistent down in Providence.
But the B’s still have high hopes for JFK, who just turned 22 on Halloween. He’s got a strong hockey IQ that makes him a very good 200foot player, a quality every team is looking for in its forwards, especially centermen. With KHL veteran center Jan Kovar in Providence on a tryout and producing, management decided it was time to take a look another look at what JFK could do at the NHL level.
He wasn’t spectacular last night, and he’s got to pick up his work in the faceoff circle (1-for-7. But he did win several pucks along the boards and he seems better equipped to compete for the job now than he was in September.
“Maybe it’s just time (he needed). Maybe expectations from us were high,” said Cassidy. “I would guess that six weeks or whatever it is he’s been down there, after a full year, I would guess he’s hungry to be here and stay . ... He had a quick indoctrination here against Washington a couple of years ago, one game, and the he goes down there, doesn’t play a lot with the big club and then preseason it doesn’t work out, so I think at some point, the switch has to go on, ‘OK, this is what I need to do.’ And he’s doing what we’ve asked him to do and he’s playing to his strength.”
JFK and the third line will face another big test starting Tuesday, and could find itself in some challenging situations.
But if this grouping can show it has some staying power, and JFK proves he belongs at this level now, then GM Don Sweeney can finally put the third line question to bed and focus on bringing a top six winger into the mix.
And if both those issues are cleared up, then maybe we can start thinking of this team as a real contender again.