Main Takeaway From Bruins’ Last Practice Before Final Roster Moves

BOSTON — With only two more days before the puck drops for their centennial season, the Bruins are making final decisions on which skaters will don the Spoked-B on opening night.

Over the weekend, general manager Don Sweeney made several roster moves by placing forwards A.J. Greer, Patrick Brown, Jesper Boqvist, Oskar Steen and defenseman Jakub Zboril on waivers for purpose of assignment. While Brown waits to see if he has been scooped up by another club or if he’s cleared, the others have already learned their fate. Greer was scooped up by the Calgary Flames, while the remaining skaters have reported to Providence.

The remaining 23 skaters took the ice at TD Garden on Monday morning working on line rushes and special teams for one final practice before the club announces any final roster moves.

Practice Lines
James van Riemsdyk – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Jake DeBrusk
Trent Frederic – Matthew Poitras – Morgan Geekie
Milan Lucic – John Beecher – Jakub Lauko/Danton Heinen

Defense Pairings
Matt Grzelcyk – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort – Kevin Shattenkirk
Mason Lohrei – Ian Mitchell

Goaltenders
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swaayman

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Special teams were the main focus
The Bruins have always prided themselves on being a tough team to play against and that extends past just the simplicity of being physical against opposing players — it’s in direct correlation to the penalty kill as well. Boston led the NHL last season with an 87.3% kill rate. The Vancouver Canucks had the lowest penalty-kill percentage with 71.6%.

However, on the other side of the ice, Boston was more in the middle of the league on the power play at 22.2%. The Oilers led the league with 32.4% and the Flyers were the worst at 15.6%.

The Bruins have become accustomed to having four forwards and one defenseman on the top power-play unit and that was still the case during practice.

The first unit consisted of Marchand, Pastrnak, van Riemsdyk, Zacha and McAvoy.

With McAvoy taking point on the blue line, the Bruins worked on Marchand coming off the right half-boards with Pastrnak at the left faceoff dot. Zacha taking over the bumper position which was previously occupied by now-retired Patrice Bergeron and van Riemsdyk as the other net-front presence.

Not only did the unit work on puck movement but Pastrnak faked the shot and slap-passing the puck to Marchand or Zacha for the one-timer.

The second unit featured a more conventional five skaters with Geekie, Poitras and DeBrusk upfront and Lindholm and Shattenkirk skating the blue line.

Having Poitras skating on the second power-play unit and centering the third line gives a clear indication his nine-game showcase is not going to be frivolous. He will be given the chance to show the Bruins that he belongs in Boston on the NHL roster instead of being shipped back to juniors for one final season.