Cassidy still believes in Bruins’ third line
The Bruins’ third line of Nick Ritchie, Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork had its positive moments in Wednesday’s Game 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes, most notably the Coyle goal that was scored off some greasy front-net work by all three players.
But the line was also on the ice for two goals against after a couple of lost battles from Ritchie and some miscommunication.
Still, with the first win under his belt, coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t sound like he was at all close to breaking up the line — and he’s not a coach who’s afraid to make changes. But he did acknowledge that things could have gone more smoothly for them.
“On the first goal, Ritchie certainly had a chance to kill the play. Charlie Coyle’s caught on defense. I think (Charlie) McAvoy was up. At the end of the day, that’s a D and he helps Ritchie, that play’s dead and it’s a 1-on-5. From there, Anders comes into the pile thinking Ritchie’s going to kill it so he’s on the wrong side of the ice instead of returning through the middle. So just a couple little things. Looked like a harmless play, then the Ritchie battle, the Bjork route and all of a sudden they’re on a line change and they get the puck in the middle of the ice to fresh legs and they make a play. Honestly, it was one breakdown that led to another. If we kill it early, it’s done,” said Cassidy. “The other goal we just got a little bit anxious on the wall to get in the battle with Anders and the puck beat him to the top. If it’s a righty, he’s probably fine, but it’s a lefty, (Hadyn) Fleury, who can drag it into the middle of the ice quicker on his off side. Anders attempted to make the block, but it got through.
“Other than that, they did a lot of things well. They obviously scored a goal for us, had some looks. Anders was all alone in front of the net with a point-blank (chance), a great play by Coyle. They haven’t been together a lot obviously so we’ll allow them time to grow as a line unless (availability) prevents us from doing that. But all in all, I thought they were better than they were bad, they just happened to be victimized for a couple of goals.”
Just judging from the everreliable social media meter, it seems that Ritchie has become an object of many fans’ ire. Big men losing battles never looks good. But while Cassidy acknowledged that there are things Ritchie can work on, the coach will allow him to get that work in. He also thought his physicality and size did show up at times, which he believes is needed.
“He had some good hits. He hit (Joel) Edmundson hard, shook him up. Both teams in any series are looking for the physical part so that there’s the attrition factor, so time will tell on that,” said Cassidy. “He got to the front of the net a lot. We asked him to do that. Now the way Carolina’s D are active, you’ve got to know, ‘OK, where am I in front? Am I in good position to recover if there’s a turnover or uncertainty on a puck possession so I won’t get beat up ice? Or can I take away the goalie’s eyes and get right on top of the crease?’ Those are some discussions we’ll have with him. He didn’t find a lot of loose pucks for himself, but Charlie Coyle scored a goal, he was part of that sequence. He went to the front of the net with Anders’ chance with Coyle, so he was around there. The physicality part versus Carolina? I think it’s important in any series. They’ve got some big bodies over there. Are you using it to your advantage becomes more of the question for me. We’re willing to keep encouraging him to do that. I think he had four hits and got one pretty good lick in there. It’s his first (playoff ) game with us, so we brought him in for a reason and we’ll allow him to grow unless we feel if there’s a better option for us, a quicker option, a guy that has different attributes, then we’ll use him.”