Bruins need their top forwards to start pulling on the rope

Oct 16, 2024

By Conor Ryan

The good news? The Bruins have received plenty of scoring punch out of the gate from their fourth line in 2024-25.

The high-motor trio of Mark Kastleic, Johnny Beecher, and Cole Koepke have combined for 13 points already through four games.

The bad news? Boston’s checking unit is just about the only segment of the team’s forward corps that’s landing punches on the scoresheet — especially at 5-on-5 play.

After Boston’s fourth line, the top 5-on-5 scorer for the Bruins so far this year is … defenseman Brandon Carlo (three 5-on-5 points).

Elsewhere, a top line of David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha, and Elias Lindholm have combined for just five 5-on-5 points this year. Their fellow top-six grouping of Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Morgan Geekie have zero 5-on-5 points.

Given the slim odds of the Kastelic line maintaining this current scoring surge, Boston will need more from its big guns soon.

Reshuffling lines has usually been Jim Montgomery’s first contingency plan when 5-on-5 scoring wanes — as evidenced by bumping both Coyle and Geekie down to the third line with Trent Frederic during Monday’s loss to the Panthers.

But on Tuesday, Montgomery stressed that no lineup tinkering will remedy Boston’s current woes if the overall compete level across the depth chart carries over from Monday’s showing.

“Right now, it’s the effort level, the consistency of our effort level — over chemistry — that is hurting. And then that really affects execution,” Boston’s bench boss noted.

Montgomery’s sentiment also resonates with a power play that has done little to prop up an imbalanced Bruins offense so far this fall.

Boston has only cashed in twice on its 18 power-play opportunities (11.1 percent) this season, while also relinquishing a pair of shorthanded goals to Florida’s Sam Reinhart over these four games.

Put Sam Reinhart on hatty watch today 👀 pic.twitter.com/0V0uYaAGN9

Beyond the lack of pucks flying into twine, Boston’s man advantage has struggled when it comes to even generating quality chances.

Over Boston’s 31:20 of power-play reps so far this year, the Bruins have only created eight high-danger scoring chances (per NaturalStatTrick), while relinquishing four down the other end of the ice.

There have been encouraging sequences at times for Boston’s power play, be it Elias Lindholm ferrying the puck across the slot from the “bumper” position or a defenseman like Charlie McAvoy lighting the lamp off a sharp wrister from the high slot.

Charlie McAvoy ties things up five seconds into the power play.Second goal in as many games for McAvoy.1-1 game. pic.twitter.com/ofQzTv2xSa

But those sequences have often been few and far between this season, with Boston’s inability to generate sustained O-zone time while up a skater limiting just how many chances stars like Pastrnak and Marchand can generate.

“We’ve got to be a little stronger in battles,” Marchand said Monday. “We need to outnumber teams. Sometimes you simplify. You have to outnumber the kill in the battles and come up with pucks. We haven’t come up with them enough.”

Despite relying on their fourth line for most of the heavy lifting on offense, the Bruins still rank eighth in the NHL in goals per game (3.75). Boston has benefited from some unexpected contributions through the first week of a new season, but Pastrnak believes it’s only a matter of time until the rest of the Bruins’ forwards start pulling on the rope.

“The only frustration is probably that we know we are a much better team than we showed so far,” Pastrnak said. “So, that’s definitely frustrating because we know we can do much better. … I would say healthy frustration, just because we know we can be much better than what we showed.”

The Bruins were steamed on Monday after Panthers forward A.J. Greer’s hit from behind on Pastrnak went unpenalized.

But Boston’s star winger didn’t have much of an issue with the play when asked about it on Tuesday.

Pavel Zacha objects to A.J. Greer's hit on Pastrnak and drops the gloves. pic.twitter.com/5vEN6t9TM1

“The hit, I don’t think much of it,” Pastrnak said. “It was from behind. I didn’t see anything. Like, I didn’t see the replay, but it was from behind, normal hit. I would say I was just unlucky. I caught the visor and kind of hit my mouth into [Jesper] Boqvist’s skate, so I was unlucky.”

Pastrnak, sporting a cut on his upper lip from that contract with Boqvist’s skate, instead echoed some of Montgomery’s postgame thoughts on Monday — especially in regards to picking the proper way to respond against a team like Florida.

“I don’t have any problem being hunted, as long as it’s within the rules and it’s clean hits,” Pastrnak said. “I can take those. I have no problem. I can make a hit. Zero problem with a clean hit. So, we definitely have to draw the line when it’s a bad play, to answer.

“There will be opportunities for those. Some of them, it’s just a clean hit, and that’s hockey. You have to take it. It’s a tough sport, so if you can’t take it, you shouldn’t be in the league. So definitely, we have to recognize time and space when you answer those.”

Brad Marchand did not take part in Tuesday’s practice, with Montgomery labeling it as a “maintenance day” … Tyler Johnson, still without a contract, was a participant on the ice in Brighton. The 34-year-old veteran was brought into camp on a professional tryout (PTO) contract and impressed during preseason action.

Last week, Montgomery acknowledged that Johnson was “being patient and sticking around for now,” with Boston needing to clear some cap space if they intend on inking Johnson to an NHL contract. According to PuckPedia, the Bruins currently have just $406,117 in cap space.

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Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.

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