To boost his listless team which was teetering on the brink of an 0 2 hole Boston Coach Claude Julien shook up his third and fourth lines although the prospects did not quite suggest an immediate payoff. He put together Daniel Paille a scrappy bottom six forward Tyler Seguin a young star mired in a playoff slump and Chris Kelly who entered without a postseason point and with a minus 9 differential in the playoffs the worst of any player in the finals.
Somehow the line clicked. Paille Seguin and Kelly produced the goal that tied the score in the second period and then the overtime winner.
We didn t have much going Julien said. At one point I thought that line would give us something.
In the latter stages of the second period Paille picked up a loose puck behind the Blackhawks net and picked his way to Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford s crease. Crawford turned away his shot but Kelly poked home the rebound.
I just happened to be there Kelly said tapped it in.
After Chicago turned the puck over in its own zone in overtime Seguin slid a pass to Paille. With space Paille sent a wrist shot toward the net that beat Crawford and caromed off the inside of the post and in tying the series at a game apiece with the setting now shifting to Boston for Game 3 on Monday night.
That s how it happens every game Paille said. There s going to be breaks that go in and breaks that don t.
Julien called his move little more than a coach s intuition.
It s a hunch he said. You look at last game when they won their heroes were guys from the third fourth lines.
Same thing for us. That s why you need depth in the playoffs. Top lines are playing head to head against top defense. It s not always that easy to score.
The Bruins lines were thrown out of whack when Gregory Campbell broke his leg blocking a shot in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Campbell and Paille were playing with Shawn Thornton on what was called the merlot line because of the color of their practice jerseys.
Since Campbell s injury Julien has mixed and matched his bottom lines but without much luck. In Game 1 the Blackhawks third line scored two key goals including Andrew Shaw s game winner in triple overtime.
What Julien found in the combination of Paille Seguin and Kelly were two speedy skaters and a grinder in Kelly.
Kelly said the ability of Paille and Seguin to match each other s pace was an important part of the success of the line.
They both skate extremely well Kelly said. They both jump on pucks. They re at kind of the same speed level which makes it nice that one guy is not ahead of the other.
Paille said Seguin entered the game with a positive attitude despite having managed only a goal and five points in the postseason.
He looked like he was on a mission today and realized he needed to play big Paille said. He did for us today.
As for Kelly the Bruins alternate captain his offensive game had been nonexistent in the playoffs but it took only one play for his fortunes to change.
Everyone would love to score and score consistently he said. For whatever reason I haven t. I try to stay positive.
He added I think it s even more important to play the other parts of the game when you re not contributing offensively. I think you need to pick up other aspects of your game to make them better in order to be a better all around player.
With 17 players still on Boston s roster from its 2010 11 championship season there is also the helpful air of familiarity no matter which of their teammates the Bruins skate with.
The bottom six have all played together at certain times if it wasn t this year last year even the year before Kelly said.
I think Claude is just trying to find different chemistry with different guys who s going on any given night. Claude has a pretty good feel for his players.
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