BOSTON — No player wants to be good at it, but those who are have a bit of an advantage.


 


Tommy Wingels was back in the Bruins’ lineup on Wednesday night for Game 3 of their second-round playoff series against the Lightning, as B’s coach Bruce Cassidy sought to add more physical play and urgency to his fourth line. Cassidy knew Wingels would provide both; he also knew the 30-year-old winger would be ready to play [...]

MIKE LOFTUS The Quincy Patriot Ledger

BOSTON — No player wants to be good at it, but those who are have a bit of an advantage.

 

Tommy Wingels was back in the Bruins’ lineup on Wednesday night for Game 3 of their second-round playoff series against the Lightning, as B’s coach Bruce Cassidy sought to add more physical play and urgency to his fourth line. Cassidy knew Wingels would provide both; he also knew the 30-year-old winger would be ready to play after being scratched from the previous three games.

 

“It’s about staying focused, staying sharp, making sure your body and game is ready,” said Wingels, who played in three of the Bruins’ seven games in Round 1 against the Maple Leafs. “Having been through that before, I think I can draw from experience.”

 

A fifth-year member of the Sharks before he was traded last year to the Senators, Wingels joined his hometown Blackhawks as a free agent this season, but gradually fell out of their rotation as the 'Hawks fell from playoff contention. The Bruins acquired him at the Feb. 26 trade deadline for a fourth-round draft pick in 2019. Used in various third- and fourth-line roles, he played in 18 games before the end of the regular season (2-3--5), missed two with a hand injury, and was also scratched twice.

 

Wingels’ appearance on Wednesday was a slight surprise, in that he stepped in for fourth-line left wing Tim Schaller -- one of only two Bruins (David Pastrnak was the other) to play all 82 regular-season games. Schaller also played the first nine playoff games, putting up two assists and a plus-9 rating, but hadn’t scored a point in his last four games and saw his ice time dip to 8:45 in Monday’s 4-2, Game 2 loss at Tampa.

 

“At the end of the day, Tommy has got some experience [Wednesday was Wingels’ 58th career playoff game], and he provides physicality. I think we were a little short of that [at Tampa],” said Cassidy, adding that the move was made “to make sure we’re not completely comfortable, and we get the urgency required, because I think we lacked some of that at times.”

 

Wingels, who took a retaliatory hit from the Maple Leafs' Nazem Kadri in Game 1 of the first round that resulted in a three-game suspension for Kadri, promised to deliver what Cassidy wanted.

 

“My game is what it is,” he said.

 

“When the hit’s there, take it — kind of let them know I’m coming. I’m going to create loose pucks on the forecheck, and be opportunistic when the offense is there.”

 

At face value

 

Patrice Bergeron, kicked out of roughly a half-dozen faceoffs in Game 2, said he wasn’t sure why he’d been ejected so often, but didn’t seem to sense a conspiracy. After reports surfaced that the Leafs had asked officials to keep a closer eye on Bergeron in the circle, some presumed the Lightning did the same after Bergeron had a good Game 1 (13-10, 53 percent) on faceoffs.

 

“To be honest with you, I’m not worrying about it,” said Bergeron, who experienced a rare sub-.500 night in the circle (11-12, 48 percent) in Game. 2. “I’m not trying to find out what’s going on. I guess it’s up to me to find a way, to adjust and adapt.

 

“Maybe I’ll talk to the linesmen a little bit more, so I can understand what’s going on.

 

At the end of the day, I just need to win draws.”

 

Around the boards

 

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara made his 111th playoff appearance in Game 3, moving ahead of Rick Middleton into sole possession of fourth place on the team’s all-time list. Bergeron’s 110th career post-season game, meanwhile, put him in sixth place — one behind Middleton and one ahead of Hall of Famer John Bucyk … The Bruins and NHL announced that the B’s and Flames will participate in the 2018 International Games in China. The teams will meet in a Sept. 15 pre-season game in Shenzhen, and again on Sept. 19 in Beijing … Charlie Jacobs, son of Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and CEO of Delaware North’s Boston Holdings, Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray and Bill Richard, co-founder of the Martin Richard Foundation, announced plans for the first MR8K race at TD Garden on Labor Day, Sept. 3. Proceeds will benefit the Martin Richard Foundation, co-founded by Bill Richard to honor his 8-year-old son, Martin, who was killed during the 2013 Marathon bombings.