NHL Notebook: Bruins looking to get most out of Lindholm

Jim Montgomery had been preaching lately that his Bruins players need to change to more of an aggressive shooting mindset, and that’s exactly what Lindholm did on his second goal of this season.

“That obviously showed if you throw things at the net then good things are going to happen,” said Lindholm, who finished with three blocked shots and a hit in 26:08 of ice time in the victory. “I think we’ve all been trying to do that a little bit more lately.”

Certainly, Lindholm could have ended up being a bit of the goat when he took a high-sticking double-minor in overtime that left the B’s shorthanded for nearly the entire extra session, but Swayman and the penalty killers made sure the game got to the winning shootout. Shootout wins obviously won’t be a possibility come playoff time a few weeks from now, but it will be a major development for the Black and Gold if a potential McAvoy/Lindholm power pairing could bring out the best in both defensemen in the postseason.

The Bruins did it against Washington to get a look at how that pairing could shut down a top Washington offensive line featuring Alex Ovechkin and TJ Oshie, and at the end of the day both players were kept off the scoresheet.

“We’re just trying different things. Washington’s got a big, heavy line, Oshie and Ovechkin on one line. We’ll see how our top two D handle getting out there against them,” said Montgomery. “We’ve done it a couple times earlier in the year against certain teams and we want to see what it looks like again because they don’t get enough reps together, and they’re always out there at the end of games. The more opportunities they get to play with each other, the better they are in those situations.”

Clearly something needs to change for Lindholm in the playoffs as he’s got zero points in 11 postseason games with the Bruins over the last two seasons, and he struggled big time moving the puck against the heavy Florida forecheck a year ago.

Perhaps the McAvoy/Lindholm combo also gives the Bruins an option to think about in the playoffs to put together a big-time pairing as they famously did in 2011 when they put Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg together early in the postseason as a highly successful move that helped them eventually win a Stanley Cup.

It could arguably allow the Bruins to lock things down most nights for at least one half of the game, with McAvoy and Lindholm both capable of playing nearly 30 minutes a night in the playoffs, where puck-moving, defensive zone and everything in between would be covered against even the best of teams, while they cobble together the rest with Brandon Carlo, Andrew Peeke, Matt Grzelcyk and Parker Wotherspoon or Kevin Shattenkirk.

Certainly, it’s an option worth considering for Montgomery and Co. as the B’s get into the final stretch of dress rehearsals prior to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

ONE-TIMERS

1. One area the Boston Bruins are going to be competitive when it comes to lineup spots headed into the playoffs is the bottom-6 forward group. There will undoubtedly be competition for the top-6 defensemen spots as well, but there will be some tough decisions as the B’s vacillate between a number of candidates that have been filtering in and out of the lineup. On Saturday night, it was Jakub Lauko coming in and James van Riemsdyk coming out after JVR managed less than 10 minutes of ice time in a pretty ineffective appearance for the Black and Gold against Tampa Bay. Lauko responded with three hits and four blocked shots in less than 10 minutes of ice time in Boston’s win over the Capitals on Saturday night. 

“Physicality. Emotion. Playing the right way. Playing above pucks,” said Jim Montgomery, when asked what the Bruins would be looking for in their bottom-6 forward candidates headed into the postseason. Being vocal on the bench. Bringing energy to the group. And besides that, the structure that we want to play and holding onto pucks.” Things will get even tighter when Pat Maroon gets healthy and becomes a fourth line candidate with players like Justin Brazeau, Jesper Boqvist and Johnny Beecher all making solid cases for themselves for playoff playing time with the way they’ve skated over the last few weeks.

2. One guy to keep an eye on from a Bruins perspective in the NCAA tournament is 22-year-old Nova Scotia native Jacob Quillan from Quinnipiac University. The NCAA regional in Providence was highly attended by NHL executives and scouts with both Quillan and Quinnipiac center Collin Graf as two of the best college hockey free agents likely headed to the pro hockey world after this tournament. While Graf might seem like a lock for the Bruins since he’s a Massachusetts native and a center by trade, Quillan is a big, productive winger who finished with 15 goals and 44 points in 38 games this season.

3. The Boston Bruins had the distinction of being the second NHL team to secure a playoff spot this season behind the New York Rangers, a clinching moment that happened on an evening when they were idle, and the Flyers fell to the Montreal Canadiens mathematically locking the B’s for the postseason. While clearly an accomplishment for a team many thought would be scratching and clawing for a wild card spot in the season following the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, it’s just one step for a group that’s raised their postseason expectations as they’ve pieced together such a strong regular season. 

“At the start of the season, that’s what you set out to do, get a spot in the playoffs. It doesn’t matter where you end up in those 16 seeds, make sure you’re there and get a seat at the table,” said Brad Marchand after Friday’s practice in Washington. “We did a great job accomplishing that first goal. We have eight games left that we need to continue to climb and fine-tune our game so that we’re prepared come playoff time. I think we need to be proud of that first step. We came together really well here. We battled through a lot of adversity and a lot of changes in our lineup. So, we have to be proud of that fact, but we can’t get complacent. That’s not what we set out to do at the start of the year. That’s part of the goal, it’s not the whole goal. There’s still a lot that we need to accomplish this year. That’s one step of the way. Definitely happy about it. We got to where we needed to be and now it’s about getting further.”

4. The Big Rig continues to chug toward a return to game action as Pat Maroon skated three days in a row back at Warrior Ice Arena as the team has pushed through their three-game road trip through Florida and Washington. At this point it’s about building up his conditioning and stamina toward a game return as the hockey calendar turns to April, with his surgically repaired back no longer an issue. “He’s doing better,” said Montgomery. “I think it’s three days in a row on the ice. Looking better and better, it’s just a matter of getting his conditioning up now.”

5. It’s always interesting to see a guy like defenseman Andrew Peeke going through a playoff push for the first time in his NHL career after coming over from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a deadline deal. Peeke has been solid in his first foray with the Black and Gold and has been energized by his first playoff experience sitting right in front of him. 

“This is exciting. I haven’t had a scenario like this in my pro career, playing at this time of the year when you’re fighting for points, that’s really important,” said Peeke, who had three hits and two blocked shots in 21:09 of rugged play in Saturday’s win over Washington. “Getting more comfortable every game, getting familiar with the guys, I know the players but how guys play, little things that they do on the ice. With the systems, each game you learn something new and keep building. At the end of the day, you just gotta play hockey and battle and work hard and that’s what I do.”