B’s line ’em up
Julien seeks ideal forward combinations
With many Bruins teams of the past several years, even at this early juncture of training camp with the Bruins playing their second preseason game tonight at the Garden against Washington, it was pretty apparent how most, if not all, of the four lines would look. Not so anymore. Yesterday, coach Claude Julien cautioned that we may well see experimentation with the lines for some time, different players with various linemates as the coaches search for ideal chemistry.
“I think this year looking at some of our lineup options we’re probably going to have opportunities to move guys around at times,” said Julien after yesterday’s Garden practice. “I’m not going to stand here and say, ‘Well, we’re planning on holding onto our lines.’ You know, that may happen. If it happens, it’s because everything’s going well.
“But you always reserve the option to move guys around. We plan on trying guys with different players and see where the best fit is.”
For veteran winger Brad Marchand, who has grown very comfortable playing to the left of longtime center Patrice Bergeron, the hope is that he’ll be staying right where he’s been for most of the past several seasons.
“I’m still always nervous that they’re going to switch it up and try something new,” said Marchand. “Me and Bergy have played together for a long time and we have great chemistry. We work on it. We always try to go together in practice, try to improve. We’re always talking.
“It does make it comfortable coming into a season. One day that could change, but right now I’m going to enjoy it.”
Marchand said the style of play that he and Bergeron share should make it easier for the right winger coming in to replace the departed Reilly Smith. The new guy just has to mesh with the two incumbents, which has to be easier than three new linemates trying to figure each other out.
For now, that right winger is speedy second-year Czech David Pastrnak. And Marchand thus far is enjoying the fit.
“He’s very confident,” said Marchand of the 19-year-old Pastrnak. “You can tell he just loves being out there. He enjoys himself. You see the moves he makes — the between the legs (plays), the dangles and stuff — you’ve got to have confidence to try that stuff and pull it off. It’s great to see it. It allows us to play with more confidence, as well, when you see a kid like that.
“You can see he’s a lot more confident this year. He knows the speed and strength of guys. That’s such a big thing, having the idea of how fast and strong the guys are in this league. He was able to adapt. You can already tell he’s going to be a great player in this league.”
Marchand hopes to find more consistency in his play this season. He had ups and downs last year, including scoring just one goal in the first 11 games, and going 15 games at the end of the year without a goal, although he finished with a team-leading 24 goals.
“You want to take the good thing and build on them and learn from the negatives,” he said. “There were a couple of stretches that weren’t great. If you look at those stretches, I wasn’t taking the puck to the net as much as I should have been. I was kind of playing more on the perimeter. I think that’s the biggest thing: To continue to drive to the net when I have the opportunity.
“It’s more of a mental state. You need to be mentally aware that you have to play a certain way. Sometimes it gets away from you and you don’t even realize it. You think you’re doing the right things.”
On a Bruins team that has changed dramatically, Marchand and Bergeron, along with whomever they have playing on their right side, need to be doing the right things this year, night after night.