02-27-2019, 04:33 PM
BOSTON — Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy may well have provided a clue to a key question as Boston gets set to host the Nashville Predators in a Saturday matinee.With Patrice Bergeron about to return from an upper-body injury Adidas Chris Kunitz Jersey , Cassidy had his talented and versatile center playing with former linemate Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen at Friday’s practice. That left David Pastrnak, the former third member of the Bergeron line, skating with the suddenly hot David Krejci and Joakim Nordstrom.Before Bergeron suffered a rib/sternoclavicular injury that knocked him out for a month, the Bergeron-Marchand-Pastrnak unit had turned the Bruins into a one-line team in terms of scoring.Article continues below ...Krejci slid into that top spot and has started scoring, leading to the thought the club could have two potent lines.Jake DeBrusk is still out with a concussion but could slide into the top two units.“Yes, again Jake always factors into that,” Cassidy said Thursday. “And without getting ahead of myself … yes, we could go in pairs and (Bergeron and Brad Marchand), (Pastrnak and Krejci) and where Jake goes from there if he’s in fact playing.“That’s where the problems come in. If you split them up now, the third line we’ve kind of wanted to keep those kids together, something’s got to give on the other lines and that’s a good problem to have, like I said Adidas Brandon Manning Jersey , because listen we want (Bergeron) in the lineup, we want (Krejci) in the lineup. That’s our 1A and 1B up the middle but we’ll sort it out from there, which we’ve kind of done all year, which is see what fits best.”The Predators, like the Bruins, have been hammered by injuries. But they are saddled with a nine-game road losing streak that came after the club won its first eight away from home.They are 0-3 on their current four-game trip, scoring five goals in the three games.Thursday night marked the second straight 2-1 loss, this one at Philadelphia and to young goaltender Carter Hart, who made 31 saves in winning his second straight NHL start.“We had some good looks,” Ryan Johansen said. “The young kid in net made some good saves, made our 5-on-3 look bad. We came in during the intermission and we were all frustrated.”Nov. 1 in Nashville, Pekka Rinne made 26 saves in a 1-0 Predators victory — Jaroslav Halak playing well in the loss. That kept the home team in charge in this series; a Bruins win Saturday would make it three straight seasons each team has won on its home ice.Halak has allowed one goal — a late tally Thursday night — in winning at Montreal on Monday and at home against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. He will make a third straight start Saturday Adidas Cam Ward Jersey , with Tuukka Rask getting the call at Carolina on Sunday.Halak, 11-5-2 with three shutouts and a league-best .930 save percentage on the season, is 14-4-5 with a 1.91 goals-against average and .930 save percentage lifetime against the Predators.Rinne, 14-7-1 with a league-leading 2.07 GAA and .927 save percentage, is 6-2-1 with 2.06/.936 numbers lifetime against the Bruins.Asked about his team’s rash of injuries, which have including P.K. Subban missing the last 19 games, Predators coach Peter Laviolette said, “It’s been substantial. But no sense crying about it. We have to win hockey games.” COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Washington Capitals needed a lucky bounce to finally get an overtime win in Game 3 in their intense first-round playoff series with the Columbus Blue Jackets.Lars Eller got the last stick on a puck that bounced off him and Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski before rolling past Sergei Bobrovsky, and Washington got the 3-2 victory nine minutes into the second overtime Tuesday night.The Capitals won at Nationwide Arena after Columbus won the first two games – both in overtime – in Washington. It was the Capitals’ turn to prevail in OT, this time on the Blue Jackets’ home ice, to pull to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.”It means a ton Adidas Matt Calvert Jersey , a win like this after playing for that long,” Eller said. ”I’m sure they feel a lot more tired in that room than we are feeling right now. It gives you a lot of energy. It’s going to be a battle again in Game 4.”Tom Wilson and John Carlson also scored, and Braden Holtby stopped 33 shots for the Capitals, who were in danger of falling into a nearly insurmountable hole had they let the game slip away.”We got some good fortune, but we also executed and we were committed today,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said.Game 4 is Thursday night back here with Game 5 set for Washington on Saturday.”We got a break, it’s what we needed,” Capitals forward John Connolly said. ”You need breaks, every team is so good now, you need to keep pressing and pressing. ”Pierre-Luc Dubois and Artemi Panarin scored for Columbus, and Bobrovsky finished with 42 saves after getting 54 in the Game 2 on Sunday.Panarin knotted the score 4:12 into the third period after he and Cam Atkinson went back and forth with pinpoint passes before he swiped it past Holtby from the left circle.That’s the way it stayed until the second overtime.After a scoreless first period, Wilson got credit for the first Washington goal when he deflected Matt Niskanen’s rising shot 5:52 into the second. The Blue Jackets got a break two minutes later when a goal by Connolly was waved off after a video replay showed he was offside bringing the puck down the ice.Dubois tied it with 8:42 left in the second when he rifled a shot past Holtby’s glove from the right circle.Later in the period Adidas Conor Timmins Jersey , with Columbus’ Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Murray both in the penalty box for slashing, Carlson connected with 5:17 left on a one-timer 28 seconds into the 5-on-3.After feasting on the power play in the first two games, the Blue Jackets failed to score on four tries with a man advantage. The Capitals whiffed on three of their four power plays.”It’s a hell of a series,” Columbus coach John Tortorella said.NOTES: The Capitals have outshot the Blue Jackets 133-92 through the first three games. … Washington F Jakub Vrana played in place of Andre Burakovsky, who is out at least through Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury suffered when he was checked into the boards by Blue Jackets F Boone Jenner on Sunday. Vrana was a healthy scratch for that game. … Blue Jackets F Alexander Wennberg missed a second game after being injured in Game 1. Sonny Milano again played in his place. … The announced crowd of 19,337 was the largest ever for a Blue Jackets game. … Washington star Alex Ovechkin appeared in his 100th career playoff game. … Panarin, who had an assist on Dubois’ goal, has eight straight multi-point games. … It was the 22nd time in NHL history that a playoff series went to overtime in at least three consecutive games.—Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacy