As the Boston Bruins have strung wins together and cemented themselves as one of the teams to beat — at the very least — in the Atlantic Division, there has been one facet of the team’s game that has come along for the first time in quite a while.
Boston has begun to establish a solid fourth line that is consistent on a nightly basis, and executing its role as needed.
The combination of Tim Schaller, Sean Kuraly and Noel Acciari have forged some impressive chemistry, and, despite it not leading to heaps of offense yet, have played a key role in the Bruins’ good form of late.
In Tuesday night’s 3-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres, the fourth line averaged a little over 15 minutes of ice time, totaling more than the second line and a little less than the third.
Particularly when players like David Krejci are out, which leaves the second line a little thin, a competent fourth line that can not only eat some minutes for a team, but also control the puck, wear down the opposing defense while on offense and open up the ice for the next group is a nice luxury.
“They’re setting it up for the next line even when they don’t score so that — usually they’re just getting it out and changing so the next group comes over the boards against a fatigued defense,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said after Monday’s 7-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“They’re usually the popular guys on the team,” Cassidy continued, “Because they do a lot of the dirty work. So, everyone’s happy for them.”
The reality is, the fourth line isn’t usually a skill group designed to pot tons of goals, and the current group is no different. But what the current group has succeeded in of late is their ability to contribute on the penalty kill.
Especially with Schaller stepping up his role on PK faceoffs, each player on the fourth line has been able to use their physical style of play and quick thinking on defense to help eat up penalties.
And while the PK certainly is imperfect, it still is ninth-best in the league.
Once upon a time, the Bruins were heavily-reliant on their fourth line, the then-dubbed “Merlot Line” of Shawn Thornton, Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille. Thornton departed after the 2013-14 season, with the other two leaving the year after.
Since then, the Bruins had struggled to find a stable fourth line that could stick together and not force the coach to have to shuffle lines regularly while utilizing short-term help from Providence.
But that might be changing, and for the foreseeable future, it looks like the Bruins may finally have found that answer.
