Heinen Back in As Part of Lineup Shuffle

EDMONTON, Alberta - Bruce Cassidy is shuffling things up for the Bruins' tilt with the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Three of his four lines will be different from the trios he put forth in Boston's loss to Calgary on Wednesday, with the biggest alteration being the insertion of Danton Heinen back into the lineup.
Heinen was a healthy scratch for the last two games, but will return to action against the Oilers as the second-line left wing, alongside David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk.

"He can add a lot," said DeBrusk. "I didn't mind how our line was playing, but obviously when we have guys like Heino sitting out, it's just a matter of rotation. We played a little bit together through preseason and a little bit in Providence, so I think the thing I said before was his hockey smarts [are good] and he's hungry to get back in the lineup and hopefully [we'll] see a good effort out of him tonight and good effort out of our line.
Other changes up front include Anders Bjork as the healthy scratch, with Joakim Nordstrom shifting down to fourth-line left wing and Chris Wagner bumping up to play the right side on Boston's third line.
"We've been rotating some of those guys, so that's what we looked at tonight," said Cassidy. "We'll move the lines around simply for a little bit of a matchup tonight. Heinen's gonna go with Krejci and DeBrusk, try to get him going. That's originally the spot we liked. I think Nordstrom's done a terrific job, in terms of generating chances, drawing penalties, still solid defensively. It's not a reflection on him, but he's gonna go with [Sean] Kuraly and [Noel] Acciari."

As has been the case in the past, Cassidy will use Kuraly's line to help combat Edmonton's top trio of Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Ty Rattie.
"I think there's a speed matchup against McDavid," said Cassidy. "We're kind of juggling against some guys, so we'd like [Patrice Bergeron] to play against him. Kuraly we know we've used in that situation before, so we thought Nordy would be a good fit o that line."
Cassidy also hinted at some possible changes on the back end. During Wednesday night's loss to Calgary, assistant coach Kevin Dean switched up the defense pairs on several occasions, which could be the case again in Edmonton.
"That we're gonna talk about," said Cassidy. "Last night Kevin mixed them up a little bit. We're gonna revisit that and see if there's a better way to go. We'll probably start the same, but I wouldn't be surprised if we mix it up.
"Brandon [Carlo] seems to be finding his game a little more in that shutdown role, so he might see a few more minutes with Zee - especially on the road you want to have the right balance. Might be a part-time thing just for matchup purposes."

Matching McDavid

The Oilers have scored 10 goals over their first four games of the season. Connor McDavid has factored into nine of them.
Edmonton's captain has four goals and five assists and is further cementing his place as the face of the National Hockey League.
"To me he's the best player in the league, so I'm not surprised that he's doing well," said Cassidy. "Certainly his production doesn't surprise me. He's around the puck, he plays a lot, he's effective, he attacks. It's gonna result in points most nights."
Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, who is in the midst of his 21st NHL season and will play in his 900th game with the Bruins on Thursday night, has played against some of the best players of all time (i.e. Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Sidney Crosby). He believes McDavid is worthy of that category.
"There is no secret," Chara said of how to defend McDavid. "Connor is probably the best player in the league as of right now. He's very explosive, very fast, very unpredictable. He sees three plays ahead before it happens. But his ability to skate and make plays at high speed are very unique. I said that last week, it's exceptional.
"You have a player like that that come around maybe once in 20-30 years - Wayne, Lemieux, Sid, you have guys who have come in every 20-30 years and they make a huge impact on the league.
"And he's the face of the league right now, he's the best player, and we're gonna probably have to wait another 20 years to see someone like that. Maybe sooner, but it's very special."

Opening Up

The Oilers are sure to have an extra jump in their step for their home opener at Rogers Place. Edmonton began the season with a lengthy road trip to Europe (for the NHL Global Series), Boston, New York, and Winnipeg.
They dropped their first two games, including a 4-1 loss to the Bruins last Thursday, but are coming off a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory in Winnipeg on Tuesday night for their second straight win.
"Most home openers, teams are ready to play," said Cassidy. "We found out the hard way in Washington. Buffalo we were much better and kind of limited some of their energy. A little bit is on us, how we handle that. They had a big comeback win in Winnipeg; I assume that will give them some confidence - it should. I would expect that they'll be buzzing early tonight and we've got to be ready for that."

Thursday's Projected Lineup

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen - David Krejci - Jake DeBrusk
Ryan Donato - David Backes - Chris Wagner
Joakim Nordstrom - Sean Kuraly - Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy
John Moore - Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk - Kevan Miller
Jaroslav Halak
Tuukka Rask