Marchand, Coyle learning each other on the fly
Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle have been trading barbs since becoming teammates in 2019. This season, however, they’ve been trading scoring chances.
The veterans never played together much as Marchand was always tied at the hip with Patrice Bergeron as his main puck supplier.
This season, however, Jim Montgomery has had Marchand and Coyle play significant minutes together with a variety of right wingers, currently Jake DeBrusk.
Following an expected adjustment period, the two have been making strides and have given the Bruins a solid second scoring line. Coyle had a pair of goals and Marchand two assists in the 4-1 win over the Sabres Wednesday.
They each had two assists in the Bruins’ 5-2 win over the Devils Saturday night at TD Garden.
“I think [the chemistry is] much better now than where it was at the beginning of the year. I think we’re understanding how to play with each other more and which we knew would be the case,” Marchand said prior to Saturday night’s game. “Anytime you switch lines up, there’s always a, not always, but at times there’s a feel-out period and I think we’ve found chemistry with guys in the past and we’re used to that, but I think we’re feeling much more confident with one another and showing.”
Coyle said he was familiar with Marchand’s tendencies from watching him play all these years, but it’s an entirely different ballgame when he’s a linemate.
“When you’re actually out there playing and reading off the guys, that’s always a work in progress and we’ve seen little spurts in getting to know each other and how we play. I think that’s only going to get better and better,” said Coyle. “But we do a lot of talking and get more comfortable with each other out on the ice, no matter who else we’re playing with. And you try to figure it out as quickly as you can, but he’s a world-class player, so it’s always exciting to play with guys of his caliber and you try to make the most of the opportunity.”
As for DeBrusk, he had an assist and scored his first goal in 11 games on Saturday.
Grzelcyk returns
Matt Grzelcyk returned to the lineup after the defenseman missed three games with an upper-body injury suffered Dec. 19 against the Wild when he was crunched into the boards by Marcus Foligno.
Grzelcyk, who missed 10 games earlier this season because of injury, had an assist and slotted in on the third pairing with fellow Boston University alum Kevin Shattenkirk, who scored twice, including the 100th goal of his career.
Grzelcyk’s normal partner, Charlie McAvoy, skated with rookie Mason Lohrei. Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo were the other pairing. Defenseman Ian Mitchell
cleared waivers and was assigned to Providence.
Sigh of relief
The Bruins avoided disaster late in the game when McAvoy needed assistance getting to the bench after appearing to injure his left leg in a collision with goaltender Linus Ullmark.
McAvoy stayed on the ice briefly before skating gingerly to the bench with a member of the medical staff guiding him. Montgomery reported that his top defenseman was no worse for the wear.
“He’s fine,” said the coach. “I think he just had a little bit of a scare with a stinger of some sort. I don’t know where it was, but he’s walking around. He’s happy right now.”
Merkulov debuts
As expected, Georgii Merkulov made his NHL debut, centering James van Riemsdyk and Trent Frederic. He is the fourth Bruin to make his debut this season along with Matt Poitras, Johnny Beecher, and Lohrei, whom Merkulov played with at Ohio State. Merkulov played 15:08 over 18 shifts without landing a shot. “He did a lot of good things,” said Montgomery. “I didn’t play him down the stretch just because you are going to close out the game and as soon as we closed it out, I put him back out there. He played a good game.” . . . With two goals Saturday, David Pastrnak has an NHL-best 58 goals in the 2023 calendar year . . . The Bruins have a league-leading 123 wins since Jan. 1, 2022, and their 260 points are the most by an NHL club over a two-year period . . . Song of the night: “Good Ones,” by Charli XCX ...Following the game, the club chartered to Detroit for a New Year’s Eve game with the Red Wings.