BOSTON — After playing arguably their worst game of the season against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery made some serious changes to his forward lines at Wednesday’s practice.
David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm were split up. The duo haven’t had the chemistry that was expected of them and have struggled to find a groove on a line through Boston’s first 10 games. The Bruins signed Lindholm to a seven-year deal in the offseason. A strong two-way center, the hope was that Lindholm would easily find Pastrnak during games. But their plan hasn’t worked.
“I don’t know. It should work. Two smart hockey players, two players that see the ice really well, two players that can shoot and pass,” Montgomery said when asked why Pastrnak and Lindholm haven’t clicked. “Two players that can skate. It just hasn’t materialized. So we’re changing it up.”
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Despite struggling, Montgomery didn’t break up Pastrnak and Lindholm right away because he was curious to see if they could work out the kinks. Lindholm, who missed the first week of training camp due to an injury, started the season strong with five points in his first three games. But he hasn’t amassed a point since — something Lindolm believes has him and Pastrnak “out of sync.”
“Obviously for myself, I haven’t been playing the way I want to and I think that affects both of us. And I think he obviously wants to play a little bit better as well,” Lindholm said. “When you’re at this level in this league, it’s a really good league, so it’s hard to connect. If the chances are coming like they did (in Tuesday’s game) then I’ll be fine. But it’s not good enough.”
Pastrnak made up the first line with Pavel Zacha at center and Johnny Beecher — who jumped up from the fourth line — on the left wing. Zacha and Pastrnak played together last year and had immediate chemistry. Zacha tallied a career-best 59 points last year, while Pastrnak put together a second straight season with at least 100 points.
Montgomery said putting Zacha with Pastrnak will give the latter some familiarity.
Beecher has been a solid contributor on the fourth line with Mark Kastelic and Cole Koepke. Montgomery split up that line last week in hopes to spread the offensive wealth, but the team still struggled. With Beecher on the top line, Montgomery put Kastelic on the second line with Brad Marchand and Lindholm, while Koepke was on the third line with Charlie Coyle and Max Jones.
“The message to those three (Beecher, Koepke and Kastelic) — and that was the most important message — was, ‘You guys are being split up to help the other guys be better, not for you to become skill players,” Montgomery said. “I don’t want their games to change. I want them to play north. I want their work habits to rub off on other people to create more turnovers, create more opportunities.”
Any line combinations Montgomery has put forth have been unable to really get anything going. The Bruins had an opportunity to build off their thrilling overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and carry that momentum into their game Tuesday against the lowly Philadelphia Flyers. But after Boston couldn’t get anything done on a 5-on-3 at the beginning of the game, nothing seemed to go its way the rest of the matchup.
“We’re not executing offensive opportunities that are there. Our checking was pretty good for the most part. Most of their offense came off puck decisions when we had it on our tape,” Montgomery said. “Those are the things where guys aren’t playing on instinct, they’re thinking. Any sport if you’re thinking instead of just being in the moment, you’re not going to play fast. It’s obvious where the puck is going. That’s why a lot of pucks are getting picked off.”
Wednesday’s practice featured a lot of F-bombs from Montgomery, and a minor scuffle between Trent Frederic and Parker Wotherspoon. It was quickly broken up before Frederic led the stretch. Perhaps the heated practice will motivate the Bruins ahead of their Thursday game against the Carolina Hurricanes, who have won four straight games are 6-2 on the season.
Thursday’s isn’t a must-win for the Bruins. But at some point the players have to be smarter about executing plays before they find themselves in a hole that will be difficult to climb out of.
