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Offense from second line is fueling Bruins’ playoff push
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- Offense from second line is fueling Bruins’ playoff push
BOSTON — Entering the season, among the many questions that lowered expectations for the Bruins was where goals were going to come from.
The answer has been the second line. The trio of Pavel Zacha, Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson have combined for 61 goals and 79 assists. That includes three goals and four assists in Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Wild.
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As a team, the Bruins have 246 goals, 24 more than all of last year with nine games still to go.
Zacha has remained one of the Bruins’ most reliable and versatile players. His 200-foot game is a large part of the reason, Marco Sturm has been comfortable using the second line in all situations this year.
“His 200 foot game is unbelievable. He helps our team up and down the ice,” Arvidsson said. “He wins battles in the D-Zone. The trust from me and Casey is there. He’s been unbelievable all year.”
But while he’s always been trustworthy defensively, his offense, especially recently, has taken another step. Zacha’s 26 goals are already a career high and his 56 points are three shy of his single-season best.
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He has seven goals in his last seven games including two on Saturday.
“Arvy and Casey are looking for me there a lot,” Zacha said. “Those are things that are starting to click as a team.”
When the Bruins traded for Arvidsson in the offseason, they hoped he would be healthy enough to approach his scoring success from earlier in his career. Despite missing time he’s delivered on those hopes with 20 goals and 22 assists.
The biggest success story might be Mittelstadt, who went from being a healthy scratch for a game early in the season to one of Sturm’s most trusted players. Since moving to wing, he’s not only contributed offensively (14 goals, 23 assists), including three assists Saturday, but has become a reliable defender, which had been a hole in his game earlier in his career.
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While he’s tinkered regularly with the first and third lines, when Mittelstadt, Zacha and Arvidsson have all been healthy, Sturm has largely kept their line intact.
“They’re comfortable. They talk a lot,” he said. “They know where everyone is at, at any point in the game.”
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