A shuffling of the Bruins’ defensive pairings proved to not be the only lineup change Bruce Cassidy made for Game 2 against the Hurricanes.
Boston’s head coach put one of the best lines in hockey back together in the second period of Tuesday night’s game at PNC Arena. David Pastrnak reunited with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, and the trio responded with a pair of goals from the Bruins captain. The tallies were too little, too late — the B’s suffered a 5-2 loss to the Canes — but they were signs of life nonetheless.
After the game, which put Boston in a 2-0 hole in its first-round series with Carolina, Cassidy broke down his decision to get the gang back together.
“Just to get a spark,” Cassidy told reporters, per the Bruins’ official website. “Not much was happening … they’ve been together and sometimes it will give you a lift. It’s something we may have to do going forward. It was always going to be something we would consider if need be. I think the balanced scoring has been good to us. But we got one the other day. So, we’ve got to get something going here and moving one player off the line I don’t think will solve all that.
“We need to get some other lines closer than that. Finishing some plays, bigger bodies get to the net and second chances because their goaltenders are doing a good job stopping the first one. Some of those guys are going to have to find their offensive game here.”
Other personnel moves Bruins fans probably can expect for Friday night’s Game 3 are replacements for Hampus Lindholm and Linus Ullmark. The defenseman was “not doing well” after taking a huge hit from Andrei Svechnikov that removed him from Game 2. Ullmark, meanwhile, very well could give way to Jeremy Swayman as the B’s attempt to turn the tides.
