BC’s Brown added to barely tweaked lineup
BUFFALO — In need of a certain something to shake his team from its recent funk, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery chose Patrick Brown as the certain someone to help spark the offense Wednesday night vs. the Sabres.
Brown, 31, the former Boston College center, had not suited up for the varsity since Dec. 16 vs. the Rangers. Against the Sabres, he was put on a fourth line with Johnny Beecher and Jakub Lauko, a move that left Oskar Steen out of the forward mix.
“It’s just to get a different look,” Montgomery explained following the morning workout, the first time the team gathered out of the threeday Christmas break. “Brownie’s a great teammate and we want to get him in a game — see if he can give us some much-needed energy and life.”
In nine games this season, Brown had landed only five shots on net and picked up but a lone assist. On Dec. 16, he played only seven shifts, for 5:08 time on ice. He was on the ice for the Sabres’ lone goal in the Bruins’ 4-1 win and did not land a shot on net during his 7:24 of ice time.
Overall, along with Kevin Shattenkirk moving back into the defense pairings, which sent Ian
Mitchell to the press box, it was a conservative retooling in the wake of Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to the Wild that extended the Bruins’ losing streak to 0-2–2.
The longest losing skid since Montgomery took over the bench last season did not trigger any radical roster changes. Trades, of course, could not be considered, the holiday roster freeze lasting through 12:01 a.m Thursday.
Montgomery said he spent Christmas Eve and most of Dec. 25 not thinking about hockey, delighted to dwell on the wonder of holiday, especially with his 6-year-old daughter immersed in the season’s spirit.
“Santa Claus allows it,” he said when asked if the holiday break allowed him to disengage. “It’s magical when your kids . . . you see their eyes in the morning. That’s awesome and helps you get away from it.”
On the night of the 25th, he added, “My brain started to go that way — and yesterday I jumped on the phone and talked with players, talked with coaches, and obviously I talk with [general manager
Sweeney] every day. And then I talked to some people outside of our team.”
Montgomery did not name those people he spoke to who were nonBruins personnel.
“Just to get a feel, you know, different people in the league,” he said. “Teams that have gone through changes and coaches, why they’ve done well and what the messaging has been, you know, just to get . . . obviously, I don’t hope that happens here, we want to avoid that.
“So what’s the messaging? What makes it go again, whether you are in Minnesota or St. Louis or whatever the case?”
Minnesota and St. Louis in recent weeks fired their coaches, Dean Evason and Craig Berube, and both clubs have seen upticks in performance. There has not been the slightest hint that Sweeney would dismiss Montgomery, whose charges, despite recent woes, entered the holiday break with the fourth-best points percentage (.688) in the NHL.
Montgomery’s message to his squad was underscored in a morning video session.
“Look, we haven’t been as good as we would like,” he said. “That’s all of us, myself included. But here’s what the picture looks like when we do look good. We showed them a lot of ways we want to play with and without the puck.
“We only had 18 minutes on the ice. You want them to have their minds start to get visually, mentally, and muscularly going toward where we want go.”
Too much Swede?
Hampus Lindholm, with a meager 1-6—7 line in 33 games, would finish with a career-low 18 points if unable to pick up the pace the rest of the season. The 29-year-old Swedish blue liner acknowledged that the tepid production has been frustrating.
“Anyone who’s competitive, everyone in this league wants good numbers,” he said Wednesday prior to faceoff. “I think anyone would agree to that if you could take some points away from yourself and get more wins . . . you want to be part of that rather than individual success.”
Perhaps a fault of his, said Lindholm, has been being too unselfish when looking for ways to pick up goals and/or assists.
“I’ve got to get a little of that Swede out of me sometimes,” he said, “and try to do it myself, try to get more pucks to the net.
“As a D-man, you can’t stand in front of the net like forwards can, but if you get pucks there, good things can happen. So I can try to do that more, get pucks into dangerous areas and good things can happen.”
Lindholm logged a solid 23:58 (team high), but did not get his name on the score sheet. He took three shots, none of them making it on net.
Collectively, Bruins defensemen have a production line of 12-43—55 after Mason Lohrei scored in the first period vs. the Sabres and Charlie McAvoy picked up an assist in the second, well behind the pace that produced last season’s 205 points. Their primary role is to prevent goals, but with scoring diminished up front this season, lack of scoring punch from the blue liners has become increasingly noticeable.
Swayman’s turn in net
Jeremy Swayman got the start in net and made 25 saves. He entered 0-1-2 since his last win Dec. 3 vs. the Blue Jackets, and in each of those three starts the Bruins scored a single goal. “Really important, getting off to a good start and having some momentum,” said Swayman after improving to 10-2-4 with the win. “Just making sure we dominated the puck, and that’s what we did. Awesome to see us finish it out.” The growing lead, noted Swayman, didn’t change his overall mind-set. “You play every game like it’s a 0-0 score,” he said. “This league is good, it’ll humble you if you get comfortable.” . . . Provided Montgomery does not break from his rotation, Linus Ullmark will start against the Devils Saturday night at TD Garden, with Swayman back in for the New Year’s Eve start in Detroit . . . The game marked the second time this season the Bruins scored three times (3 for 4) on the power play. They went 3 for 3 on the man advantage Dec. 15 in a 5-4 shootout win over the Islanders.