Bruins’ 4th line has familiar look

Nearly five months after what amounted to little more than a sneak peek, the Bruins are close to getting another look at the new lineup they planned to take into the playoffs.

That’s probably going to mean restoring some previously established areas of the rotation. The middle section of the forward group will continue to take shape when the B’s return to round robin play on Wednesday afternoon against the Lightning, but the bottom line has joined the top in terms of [...]

Nearly five months after what amounted to little more than a sneak peek, the Bruins are close to getting another look at the new lineup they planned to take into the playoffs.

That’s probably going to mean restoring some previously established areas of the rotation. The middle section of the forward group will continue to take shape when the B’s return to round robin play on Wednesday afternoon against the Lightning, but the bottom line has joined the top in terms of familiarity.

Coach Bruce Cassidy had a hunch it was going to work out that way.

"To be honest, in the back of my mind, we at some point would have looked at that combination," Cassidy said of his decision to reunite Joakim Nordstrom, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner as the Bruins’ fourth line in Sunday’s 4-1 round robin loss to the Flyers. "That was in the back of our mind, no matter what."

The air of inevitability stemmed from the Bruins’ confidence that wingers who missed some or all of July 13-25 practices held when teams returned to continue a season interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic — David Pastrnak, Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie — would eventually receive clearance to play. Those absences made Sean Kuraly a wing on the third line (where Cassidy had been using him just before the NHL paused the season on March 12), while Par Lindholm practiced between Nordstrom and Wagner.

A few shifts into last Thursday’s exhibition against the Blue Jackets, though, Cassidy moved Kuraly back to the No. 4 center slot, and kept the line together on Sunday. The trio rewarded the coach with the Bruins’ only goal against the Flyers, from Wagner. Nordstrom had the primary assist.

While more eyeballs will be focused Thursday on whether the top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak can raise their level of play after two less than stellar post-pause performances, a strong game from the fourth line will also improve the top-seeded Bruins’ chances of moving out of last place in the four-team, three-game round robin. The No. 2 Lightning and No. 4 Flyers both have two points, while the No. 3 Capitals got a point from Monday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Lightning. Round robin standings determine playoff seeding.

The Bruins count on their fourth line, Cassidy said, to "play against good lines, get a lot of (defensive) zone starts, hopefully give you some energy, timely goals." Even though the Lightning are holding out captain and scoring star Steven Stamkos (lower body injury) again on Thursday, they’re deep and talented enough to have won twice (one exhibition, one round robin) at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, where a dozen Eastern Conference teams are housed in a bubble environment and competing to establish first-round playoff matchups.

The B’s need a line to control one of the Lightning’s top two groups, and the Nordstrom-Kuraly-Wagner trio proved in last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final that they’re up for high-profile tasks like that. With Noel Acciari (now a Panther) in the mix after Wagner sustained a broken forearm late in Round 2, the fourth line contributed 11 goals over 24 post-season games, and Wagner (12 games, minus-3) was the only member who didn’t finish with a positive plus-minus rating.

Kuraly was particularly effective, putting up four goals and 10 points over 20 games (he lost four to injury) with a plus-4 rating, and he won 50.4 percent of his faceoffs. Like everyone else who plays on the line, Kuraly kills penalties, too.

With Acciari lost as a free agent, Nordstrom injured at the start of the year, and free agent Lindholm added to the mix, the different versions of the fourth line weren’t quite as effective this season, but with Kuraly back to anchor the group, Cassidy is confident they’ll find their grooves.

"I know their regular season wasn’t as good analytically as maybe the year before," the coach said, "but this is a different time of year now.

"Hopefully, after a little time apart, they’ll appreciate each other, and get back to their game. It sure looked like (Sunday), that was Step 1."

Around the boards

Tuukka Rask, who was kept in quarantine for two days after experiencing a COVID-19 symptom (cough), practiced for the second straight day on Tuesday. Cassidy said "if (Rask) wakes up feeling good, he’ll get the start." Rask played the first half of last Thursday’s exhibition game, but didn’t dress against the Flyers … Winger Nick Ritchie, who returned to practice last Thursday after being "unfit to participate" for roughly a week, will play against the Lightning on a line with David Krejci and right wing Karson Khuhlman. That bumps Jake DeBrusk to the third line, with Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork … Jack Studnicka, a linemate of Krejci’s during the absences of Pastrnak, Kase and Ritchie, skated with spare players on Tuesday and seems likely to sit out on Wednesday.