Man in the Middle
The Bruins will also have a few more changes up front, chief among them being Pavel Zacha shifting back to the middle to center David Pastrnak and Tyler Johnson.
"I like playing with him,” said Zacha. “I think we have some chemistry from playing together in past years. Playing back at center is going to be exciting for me. I think our line the last two games was pretty good with Charlie Coyle and [Justin] Brazeau, had some good looks there. But it's exciting for me to play back with Pasta and Johnny."
Zacha added that the familiarity he has with Pastrnak, including this season with both players on the wing between Elias Lindholm, should benefit the duo as they try to quickly create results.
“I think we had 10 games together, couple games without each other,” said Zacha. “We kind of are used to getting some games together and getting right back to it. It shouldn’t be hard. We are used to talking to each other on the ice and he tells me exactly where I need to be. I think with him it comes natural to get that chemistry. We just have to keep creating those chances together and help our team win.”
Montgomery said that part of the reason for the tweak is, despite improvement in their checking game, the Bruins are still struggling to create consistent offensive chances.
“Those two have played really well together for two years in a row…I thought the line of Coyle, Zacha, and Brazeau was doing a good job…we feel that our defensive structure game is in a good place,” said Montgomery. “We don’t see a lot of offense being created in several of our last games 5-on-5. We’re not getting a lot of Grade-A chances…we just have to go to harder areas more consistently and be more direct offensively.”
