Elias Lindholm and a revamped Bruins line helped deliver Boston’s best win of the year

By Conor Ryan The odds were stacked against the Bruins for most of Monday night.

The Bruins were staring at an uphill climb against the Washington Capitals a tenacious squad currently sitting second in the Eastern Conference with 48 points on the year.

To make matters worse, a Bruins team already starved for scoring lost David Pastrnak midway through the contest with an upper-body injury.

Couple that shorthanded forward corps with a bout against a Caps team ranked fifth in goals against per game (2.62), and things were seemingly set to spiral for Joe Saccos roster.

But in a season where months of lineup reshuffling have often led to middling returns, Sacco seems to have finally struck gold.

A reworked top-six line featuring Brad Marchand, Elias Lindholm, and Charlie Coyle has quickly turned into a dynamic trio for Boston sparking the Bruins in the third period en route to an eventual 4-1 win over the Capitals.

After weeks where any semblance of momentum sparked by Boston has regularly been undercut by lopsided losses against Cup-contending rosters, Mondays win served as a welcome sight.

Stuck in a 1-1 deadlock with under 10 minutes to go in regulation, all three of Lindholm, Coyle, and Marchand lit the lamp to help Boston improve to 11-4-1 since Sacco took over in mid-November.

Even with Boston losing both Pastrnak and Oliver Wahlstrom (a five-minute major and game misconduct), the Bruins limited Washington to just 11 shots on goal in the victory.

It was right up there [with the top wins of the year], Sacco noted postgame.

When you go down two forwards like we did in the third period, the 5-minute kill.

There was some adversity that we faced there.

Certainly says a lot about the team tonight and their effort and their determination.

While Lindholm and Marchand have usually been paired on the same line for most of the past two months, Coyle has added a new element since his top-six promotion.

Coyle is often at his best as a puck-possession, two-way pivot.

But the 32-year-old forward like many of his teammates has struggled to find his footing offensively for most of this season, especially when tasked with driving his own line further down the depth chart.

Shifting to the wing does present some adjustments.

But Sacco banked on a player with Coyles skillset complementing an already stout defensive pairing of Marchand and Lindholm while also creating more offensive opportunities for the Weymouth native to stuff the stat sheet.

Three good players.

They can all defend, Sacco said of his new top-six grouping.

They all have offensive capabilities.

...

So its a line that we can use against the other teams top lines.

They can check, they can score.

Theres a lot of balance there.

Coyles puck-protection skills were put on display during Lindholms tie-breaking tally at 13:41 in the third.

As Washington forward Connor McMichael skated over Bostons blue line in pursuit of a skittering puck, the 6-foot-3 Coyle shielded the biscuit and played keep-away along the half-wall.

Spotting both of his linemates further up the ice, Coyle lofted a pass that was corralled by Marchand sparking a 2-on-1 counter-rush.

Seconds later, Lindholm tucked a puck past a sprawled-out Charlie Lindgren to give Boston the lead for good.

What a goal from Elias Lindholm (and a helluva backcheck from Charlie Coyle): pic.twitter.com/oTp5CiYSXU It was a welcome sight for Lindholm, who is now up to three goals and five points in his last four games.

Bostons top-free agent signing also led all Bruins forwards with 3:42 of shorthanded ice time on a night where they held the Caps to zero shots during Wahlstroms five-minute major penalty.

Ive been feeling a little bit better on the ice, and obviously making more plays, feeling more confident, Lindholm said.

Yeah, everything is slowly getting better.

Just 2:18 after Lindholm lit the lamp, that line struck again off another odd-man rush, with Coyle depositing a rebound past Lindgren after Marchands initial shot clanged off the post.

It stood as Coyles second goal in as many games, while Marchand added the coup de grace with an empty-netter at 18:38 in the final frame.

CC CLEANED IT UP pic.twitter.com/CMLRKbhZbo Marchand is now in the midst of a 10-game point streak, totalling seven goals and 13 points over that stretch.

Even though the Marchand-Lindholm-Coyle line has only logged 33:42 of 5-on-5 ice time together , the Bruins have outscored opponents, 3-0, over that stretch while holding a 9-3 edge in high-danger scoring chances.

For all of the trials and tribulations that the Bruins have weathered this season, Boston still sits just four points out of first place in the Atlantic Division.

And for the first time in a long time, they have a statement win on their resume and a potential top-six line, to boot.

I cant say its been our best game, but it was a very good game all the way through, Marchand said.

Theres some moments that youd like to have back, or we werent playing clean.

...

But I liked the way that we stuck with it.

We havent been great in the third period all year this year, and to play like that against a team like Washington, thats how we have to do it every night.

Conor Ryan Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.

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