Julien tweaks Bruins' lines again at Tuesday's practice

Share

By Danny Picard
CSNNE.com

WILMINGTON -- Claude Julien mixed up the Bruins' lines in the third period of Monday night's 3-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, and he changed them up again at Tuesday's practice at Ristuccia Arena.

Marc Savard was reunited with Milan Lucic, and Nathan Horton was added to the duo's right wing. Julien also reunited the line of David Krejci, Michael Ryder, and Blake Wheeler. The trio was the team's most productive offensive line two years ago, when the Bruins were the top team in the Eastern Conference.

"You've got to try and find some solutions here, so we moved some people around and let's see if that can happen," said Julien, when asked if he hopes Krejci's line can continue what it started two seasons ago. "If it happens, great, because they were pretty successful then. And maybe we see that again."

Wheeler seemed pretty excited, after Tuesday's practice, about getting the opportunity to get the old line back together.

"I think when you struggle to score goals, it's easy to go back to the well, and say, 'You know what, we've had some success,' " said Wheeler. "So it's kind of natural to put us back together.

"We've played together so much these last few years, that we know where we're going to be when we're on the ice. We know what to expect."

All three had their highest totals, as members of the Bruins, two seasons ago, while playing together. Ryder had 27 goals and 26 assists. Wheeler had 21 goals and 24 assists. And Krejci had 22 goals and 51 assists.

"Krejci's a really fun guy to play with, because you know if you're in space, and there's an opportunity to get the puck, then you're going to get it," said Wheeler. "So more than anything, you just want to be ready to shoot, and have your stick on the ice at all times, because sometimes he sees you when you're not even expecting it."

Tyler Seguin was back skating with Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi on Tuesday. Julien had moved Seguin to the line in the third period of Monday night's loss. It was the first line that Seguin played with, in the preseason, as a member of the Bruins, and by all accounts, it was a success at that point.

Seguin was removed from Bergeron's wing, in order to play center while Savard missed the first two months dealing with post-concussion syndrome.

Grinder Brad Marchand (stiffness) was missing once again from Bruins practice on Tuesday, while defenseman Steven Kampfer was present, after taking getting hit awkwardly into the boards on Monday night.

"Kampfer's not 100 percent, but he's OK," said Julien after the skate. "He's good enough to come out and practice today."

Danny Picard is on Twitter at http:twitter.comDannyPicard. You can listen to Danny on his streaming radio show I'm Just Sayin'Monday-Friday from 9-10 a.m. on CSNNE.com.

Contact Us