Scarce minutes should keep Bruins’ fourth line from contributing
Paille/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — Whether Shawn Thornton rejoins them on the Bruins’ fourth line or not, Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille have to find a way to make their presence felt even more as the Stanley Cup Final unfolds.
Perhaps Paille and Campbell won’t get more ice time in tonight’s Game 3 at TD Garden than the 4:19 and 4:18 they received, respectively, in Saturday night’s Game 2. That shouldn’t matter. They’ve both shown an offensive upside in the past and could at least do a better job of getting the puck deep and making Vancouver work harder to get it out.
“Obviously, not just myself, but we all want to be that difference, especially when the top lines score goals against each other,” said Paille after Boston’s morning skate. “We realize that it’s going to be the third- and fourth-line players that could make a difference. And we want to try to help them out as much as we can.”
Paille and Campbell have been part of Boston’s solid penalty kill, which has gotten back on track with seven kills in eight opportunities. The one Vancouver power-play goal was scored at the tail end of a man-advantage after an Andrew Ference turnover.
Head coach Claude Julien would like, at minimum, for his fourth-liners to continue its physical play and set the tone for the rest of his squad.
“You’ve seen them kill mostly penalties. The fourth lines haven’t been utilized that much on the 5-on-5 situations. I know now they’ve got [Manny] Malhotra back [in Game 2], they seem to want to use him a little bit more, which is probably the right thing to do.
“But we feel our fourth line that we have is certainly capable of matching that. Again, they’re throwing their body around. We need to throw our body around, as well, finish our checks like we’ve done all year. Again, this is a seven-game series. We all know that eventually it takes its toll. I don’t think they have a different mindset than we do because they’re being as physical as we are, as well.”
Malhotra skated for 7:26 and won 6-of-7 faceoffs. He also helped his line keep the Bruins hemmed in a bit early in the game. If the Bruins’ fourth line could do that tonight, it would go a long way toward getting the club back in this series.
Hey Guys! Why you are all soooo pessimistic against the Bruins?
TCL … I agree with your appreciation of Paille, It’s the way I feel about Burrows and Kesler on the penalty kill.
Snerd
I think then one key is to legally ring Kesler’s bell hard and often.
Honestly I have really come to appreciate Paille. He has played his heart out and his seems to have found a niche and I absolutely love watching him kill penalties.
I think it is probably frustrating for that line though to have such shortened minutes, but they aren’t the coach. I think it is probably harder to get into a game rhythm though with only a few regular shifts, but they are professional hockey players-and they have to bring it to the ice when called on.
Yeah, I did notice that. This ain’t over yet.
PCL- I did notice that. Kessler got his bell rung pretty good. I hope he it gets rung again tonight.
Speaking of throwing the body around, did anyone else notice that after the hit he took in the first period of game two that rattled him a bit, Kesler wasn’t as visible as he was in game one?
We were told that Boston had 1 first line and 3 second lines. So far, playing time hasn’t reflected that.
On Van’s fourth line, Malhotra is playing with one good eye and his head in a bucket, and they are being effective.
I think this reflects the speed, depth and degree of desire on the Canucks side. Burrows response to Chompgate is another example of this, and what Canucks can do when they … errr … ‘chews’ to.
Snerd