Jesper Boqvist has claimed the fourth-line center role with Johnny Beecher back up from AHL Providence.
Jesper Boqvist has claimed the fourth-line center role with Johnny Beecher back up from AHL Providence.
Jim Montgomery is perfectly fine keeping Jesper Boqvist at center.
Since Johnny Beecher’s return from AHL Providence last week, the Boston Bruins have two options for the pivot position on the fourth line. While Beecher beat out Boqvist for the role in training camp, he has remained on the left wing since his call-up.
Boqvist, who started the season in Providence, got the NHL promotion on Jan. 6 and has earned a consistent spot in the lineup since. Boqvist anchored the fourth line with Justin Brazeau – as well as Jakub Lauko and Anthony Richard at times – before Beecher got his second chance at the big leagues, and Montgomery intends to keep it that way.
“We want [Boqvist] handling the puck, and when you’re a center you get the puck more. He’s been doing a great job, he’s confident with the puck,” the Bruins coach said Monday.
Boqvist has logged 11 points (four goals, seven assists) through 34 games with Boston while averaging 11:02 of total ice time. However, his 36.6 face-off percentage is an obvious slumping area. And it’s not just him – the Bruins are ranked 21st in the league for face-off wins at 49.1 percent. Last season, the B’s were ranked second in the league at 54.5 percent.
That’s where Beecher comes in – the 22-year-old rookie leads the team with a 54.6 face-off percentage. Beecher won five of eight at the dot on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers, and eight of 11 on Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens.
“We’re going to have Beecher take the draws because he’s so good at it. They lose a draw in-zone, Beecher is going to play center until we get out of the zone,” Montgomery said. “But when it goes 5-on-5, we want Boqvist playing center.”
Beecher netted his first NHL goal since Jan. 8 in Saturday’s 6-5 win over the Flyers at TD Garden, and Montgomery credited the set-up to Boqvist’s poise with the puck and vision of the ice.
“Beecher’s goal is a great entry by [Boqvist] – started in the D-zone, carries it right through,” Montgomery said. “Makes a good, sound play in a danger area where it’s getting close to the blue line, lets Peeke find Beecher.”
While Beecher’s size – 6-foot-3, 216 pounds – and speed made him a good fit for the fourth-line center responsibility earlier in the season, it seems Montgomery is committed to allowing Boqvist to continue to steer the trio.
“We just like him transporting the puck,” Montgomery said. “And his speed underneath pucks puts opponents – it gives up the blue line a lot. We don’t have to forecheck as much.”
As the Bruins near the playoffs with just 13 games remaining in the regular season, the battle for a postseason spot in the lineup has begun.
Beyond rotating eight defensemen right now with new acquisition Andrew Peeke and Mason Lohrei, Montgomery and his staff also have to solidify its team’s best look offensively. Not to mention, Pat Maroon will likely play an important bottom-six role when he returns from injury – he is still week-to-week, per Montogmery.
Beecher and Boqvist have worked well at their given positions thus far, and it will be all about consistency moving forward.
“The message is, play well and you keep playing,” Montgomery said. “I think that’s the way it works best. You earn what you get in life, you earn what you get in the NHL.”
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