During Thursday night's first period, David Pastrnak positioned himself in the slot and waited for his linemates to get him the puck. As his left wing and center did the dirty work, the 23-year-old sharpshooter positioned himself perfectly in the slot as he has on so many occasions this season.
But this time, it wasn't Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron riding alongside their All-Star winger.
With Chris Wagner pulled from the game by the NHL concussion spotter, Pastrnak took his place on Boston's fourth line, riding with Sean Kuraly and Joakim Nordstrom for a shift. It ended up working out just fine for the Black & Gold.
Not only because Pastrnak is the league's leading goal scorer - he now has 35 after Thursday night's hat trick - but also the strong work of Kuraly and Nordstrom during what was one of their best games of the season.
Both players picked up an assist on Pastrnak's first tally of the night, while Wagner returned and landed a game-high seven shots on goal in what Cassidy termed the winger's "best offensive game of the season."
And while the trio did not register a goal - Wagner actually finished a minus-2 - it was the continuation of an upward trend for Boston's fourth line, as it looks to regain the magic it had during last year's run to the Cup Final.
"First of all, they're typically out there against a good offensive line, so right away, the next line over the boards is not having to deal with an attack-oriented line," said Cassidy. "In general, it builds momentum for us, especially if the line change is clean. They punt it out; we're on the ice getting going back with some transition before they're set, so I think it just rolls us into a more offensive game when they're on.
"We've said that all along that what they leave is just as important as what they accomplish for us, so if they can accomplish some O-zone time and then leave us with a good puck getting back on the attack, then they've really done their job.
"I thought they got a little unfortunate [on Thursday night]. They were on the ice for a couple of goals against where our D got beat one-on-one where they did a really good job. Didn't show up in the scoresheet in the plus-minus, but one of our better lines tonight."
Wagner did get on the scoresheet on Tuesday night in Nashville after a Par Lindholm shot deflected in off his backside for his fourth goal of the season and first since Dec. 7. Kuraly, meanwhile, has picked up five assists over his last nine games and Nordstrom - who missed the Nashville game with an illness - has a goal and an assist in his last four contests.
"Sean was flying around the puck, Nordy was fore-checking and Wags was just doing his thing," said Pastrnak. "He had seven shots, so they could easily come up with a couple goals, too, so next game might be their game…they've been together for a while. They have chemistry and when they play like this, they are extremely strong on the puck and they create a lot of chances and turnovers. They had a hell of a game today."
