“At the end of the day, that’s the lineup we chose,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said hours before Game 1 against the Maple Leafs. “Game 2, we’ll see how it plays out, hopefully it plays out very well.”
It played out very well, indeed, Thursday night at TD Garden, thanks mainly to the return of Rick Nash, out since March 19 on concussion protocol and missing 12 games.
Few players assume a bigger role in keeping Cassidy’s lines intact more than Nash, whose reunion on the second-line right wing with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk takes pressure off the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak trio to carry the offense, not to mention Nash’s presence on the power play and overall skill set in marquee games.