Different challenges present themselves throughout the NHL season. Headed into Wednesday’s game against the Devils in New Jersey, the Bruins have themselves a whopper.
The B’s will be without a good chunk of their team defense — top six center Pavel Zacha and No. 1 defenseman Charlie McAvoy — when they take on the speedy, young Devils, who have climbed to fourth in the league in goalscoring at 3.54 per game.
All hands will be required to be on deck to slow down the Jersey offense.
“You don’t replace one of your top two centers and you don’t replace you’re top D-man with an individual,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “It’s got to be a concerted effort by everyone eating more minutes and they’ve got to do the job.”
One player who will be asked to do more is Morgan Geekie. He’ll be bumping up to top six duty, skating between David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk and taking over Zacha’s bumper spot on the first power-play unit.
He played on that line when Zacha left Saturday’s game with an upper body injury and helped produce Pastrnak’s key insurance gal in the 5-3 win over Arizona.
This is new challenge, said Montgomery.
“He’s a big horse that can occupy the middle of the ice, drive the net. He wins battles, not only one-on-one battles but battles against two people because of his strength and his tenacity on pucks,” said Montgomery. “Now, it worked in-game. It’s much easier to do it in-game than when they have two days to prepare and all of a sudden they’re starting and you’ve got to start on time. It’s a challenge for everyone. It’s a wonderful opportunity that everybody has kind of been given But you’ve got to seize the opportunity and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Geekie agreed that it’s a different beast when you’re starting at the top of the lineup.
“When you’re already in the game, there’s a sense of urgency I guess. You don’t really need to force yourself to get started like at the start of a game. I understand where that’s coming from,” said Geekie. “But then again, we’re all professionals. We’re going to come to play when the game starts and I’ll be ready to go.”
Geekie needed a few games to kick off the rust after missing three weeks to an upper body injury, but his game is rounding back into form, with the exception of the Buffalo game that was pretty much bad for everyone. This chance to play up in the lineup may only last as long as Zacha is out, but it’s an exciting one.
“Any time you get to play with players of their caliber it’s something special. Like I’ve said before, I’m just trying to go out there and give them the puck in the right spots. We all know what (Pastrnak) can do with it. Just try to get open, make some space for him and create some plays,” said Geekie.
“You see it in his game what he likes to do, his trends and his tendencies. I wouldn’t say I read into it too much. It’s just things that you pick up. Even on the bench, it’s fun to watch him. I watch him as much as you guys do.”
That line will stay together on the power play, with Geekie in the bumper, Pastrnak in his usual elbow spot and DeBrusk at the net front.
“I think we have a pretty close group. Obviously, it’s new for me to play with those two all together. I’ve played with JD a little bit a the start of the year,” said Geekie. “But on the power play, I think it’s just instincts. Pasta’s a great power-play player, obviously, and we’ve got (Brad) Marchand on the other side. I’m just trying to complement those guys and get pucks back. I think the big thing on the power play is just the possession time. So any time I can help out and release the pressure from that middle spot, I’ll do that.”…
Montgomery termed both Zacha and McAvoy as day-to-day and did not give rule them out for Friday’s game against the surging Islanders. It would seem unlikely that Zacha would be ready for the Islanders game, given that he hasn’t skated since leaving Saturday’s game and there’s a scheduled off day in New York on Thursday. McAvoy, meanwhile, skated prior to practice for the second straight day but has not rejoined the team for practice…
Forward Jesper Boqvist, let go by the Devils last summer, was recalled from Providence to accompany the team on the trip.
“There’s a lot of players playing well right now down in Providence. It’s a little bit of how well he’s playing and also it’s New Jersey, that’s where he played. I always find guys dig in and want to show the other team why they could have kept them,” said Montgomery.
Montgomery, however, did not commit to putting Boqvist in the lineup. He was the extra forward in Tuesday’s practice with Jakub Lauko, John Beecher and Oskar Steen taking the first line rush as the fourth unit.
Meanwhile, Matt Poitras centered a third line with wings James van Riemsdyk and Danton Heinen while Charlie Coyle centered Marchand and Trent Frederic….
Montgomery would not divulge his goaltender for Wednesday, but said both Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman are healthy. Ullmark has started the last two games while Swayman got over an illness.