Who knew Sean Kuraly might end up being the piece that put the Boston Bruins over the top in their first-round playoff series with the Toronto Maple Leafs?
The Bruins solved one of their most pressing issues in Game 4 on Wednesday night as Bruce Cassidy shuffled his lines, jump-starting his most important players as Boston held on for a 6-4 series-evening win in Toronto.
Now, with the series shifting back to Boston for a pivotal Game 5, the Bruins’ bottom-six forward grouping might get a boost with the return of Kuraly. The 26-year-old forward has been out for almost a month with a broken hand, but Cassidy said Thursday that Kuraly is “progressing well” and will be a game-time decision before Game 5 at TD Garden.
If Kuraly is able to draw back into the lineup, that would be a huge boost for the Bruins’ fourth line, which has struggled mightily in the Toronto series. From a puck possession perspective, Boston’s fourth line has been dominated by Toronto. It’s a long way from the productive trio Cassidy could roll when Kuraly was skating alongside Chris Wagner and Noel Acciari.
“Sean’s greatest strength is his ability to transport the puck out of our zone, close first and get out,” Cassidy explained Thursday. “He’s strong, a real good skater, so he can get the puck out of our zone. I think that line has done a good job in terms of structurally being in lanes and blocking shots and being willing to battle. But they miss that element, the guy who can get it and go and separate. In the offensive zone, he can be a puck possessor and a one-man cycle, specifically (against) teams that are man-to-man.”
Joakim Nordstrom likely would come out of the lineup if Kuraly is ready to return. Nordstrom is one of the Bruins’ best penalty killers, which is important against a higher-powered team like Toronto, but Kuraly is a capable penalty killer himself. And as Kuraly showed last season and the year before, he tends to score some big goals this time of year.
