What Bruce Cassidy Is Expecting From Ondrej Kase In Round-Robin Debut

Since late February, we’ve been waiting to see how the combination of Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci and Ondrej Kase on the Boston Bruins’ second line would pan out.

It was underwhelming leading up to the pause, but there’s a possibility time heals in this circumstance.

We’ll find out Sunday.

With Kase back and ready for game action, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy is going to put that trio together for Boston’s round-robin finale against the Washington Capitals. That unit working out would be a big plus for the Bruins, who have struggled to find consistency in the middle six pretty much all season.

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But considering Sunday is his first game action in literal months, Cassidy is keeping expectations for Kase relatively tempered.

“I expect rust. And typically comes with your hands, they’re a little slower than your legs. He’s got good legs, he’s young, so that’s not an issue right now,” Cassidy said Sunday morning. “So how will he recover from shift to shift if he gets stuck out there and in one-on-one battles, you can’t replicate hockey battles, so we’ll see how that plays out for him. I believe like everybody the first game that’ll be a challenge. I expect he’ll be on top of pucks, I expect he’ll give us good energy on the forecheck. We’ll be in attack mode, hopefully their line the puck finds them and they work to recover it, get some second chances because both him and Jake certainly have the ability to score and Krech to make those plays. Best case scenario he goes out there, gives us a real jolt and plays a great game.

“But at the end of the day it’s not fair to judge him on one game, he needs to get himself ready individually for Game 1 of the playoffs, so that’ll be his challenge today against live action and see where it leads us.”

Puck drop for Bruins-Capitals is set for noon ET. The game will be broadcast on NESN.

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