Kalman: Depth Makes Bruins Better Than Last Year
BOSTON (CBS) - Go ahead and number the Boston Bruins' lines one through four based on your perception of the players on each trio.
But with this current Boston squad, you're better off naming the lines after the player centering them. That's how deep the Bruins are right now, and a sign they might be better than last year's championship squad.
Based on recent results, the Chris Kelly line, largely identified as the third line, could easily be considered the team's first line. Kelly, Rich Peverley and Benoit Pouliot continued to prove that during the Bruins' 4-2 win over Winnipeg Saturday with a combined five points, including two goals by Kelly.
While Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Nathan Horton are slumping, Kelly and his linemates are thriving. In the last eight games, Kelly has posted 6-3-9 totals and Peverley has produced at a 1-6-7 clip. Pouliot's assist against the Jets snapped a five-game pointless drought by the enigmatic winger, who was playing his seventh straight game as the semi-permanent left winger on that line.
To no one's surprise, head coach Claude Julien sounds like he plans on keeping that line together a little longer.
"I like what I see," said Julien after his team won for the 11th time in 12 outings. "They seem to be working well together. As we mentioned earlier, Benoit's got a good skill level that we think we can tap into and maybe even improve with the way we play. It's been a slow start for him, but he's starting to come around. That line is starting to give us some real good shifts and I like it because there's times where you don't always want a hard match, so when [opponents] put their top lines on and we've come off a power-play, you can feel comfortable about putting that line out there and still doing the job."
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Defensively, Julien's always been able to trust any line consisting of Peverley and Kelly dating back to the February trades that brought both to Boston last winter. That they're now part of a formidable two-way line that's causing opposition matchup problems night in and night out is a revelation no one in the Bruins' brass would be able to admit they foresaw if shot with truth serum.
There's no telling how long the Bruins will be able to rely on Kelly's line as a threat for the long haul. Pouliot's failed to meet his potential as a former No. 4 overall draft pick with two other teams and he's just a week removed from a benching he received for taking boneheaded penalties. I'm not sold on him holding off Jordan Caron for that lineup spot for five more months.
Peverley fills the role of a speedster and setup man, but his track record as a finisher is shaky.
However, Boston's superb two-way center has a way of making the wings around him better. Right now, Kelly looks like a guy who could put up 60 points and then cash in with a long-term, $3-4 million deal as an unrestricted free agent signing next summer (we'll tackle that topic at a later date). A player who's never exceeded 38 points in the NHL is, in fact, now on pace for 60. What Kelly lacks in ego – he won't credit anyone but his teammates and linemates for his success – he's always made up for with savvy and positioning. Now he's added a deft touch around the net and a rocket-like one-timer he unleashed against the Jets with the game tied.
At least publicly, Kelly's not all that convincing as someone who wants to rack up points.
"Obviously everybody wants to get more points," said Kelly said in his trademark dry tone. "Like I said, I think previously, no one wants to be a defensive forward in the NHL but obviously it's a long season; you're going to have your highs, you're going to have your lows and the main thing that I've learned over the years is stay-try to stay consistent and stay grounded."
Hopefully, Kelly underneath his humble façade is thinking about getting a little greedy, not just for the benefit of his bottom line but for the Bruins' potential for another Cup run. Kelly's going to get a consistent opportunity from Julien to put up points and if he takes advantage of it, and Peverley and a second winger produce in kind, the Bruins could be better than the 2010-11 edition. Remember, while Kelly, Peverley and Michael Ryder enjoyed a late-series outburst against Montreal last spring, over the course of four series the Bruins only received offense from the Kelly line in blips here and there.
It's all well and good for Kelly and his linemates to want to stay grounded and consistent. If they take on a first-line mentality, however, and add to their recent production, once the other Boston trios get cooking again the Bruins will be only identifiable as one of the league's elite teams.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com. He operatesTheBruinsBlog.net and also contributes coverage to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
