Cassidy: ‘Work in progress' at Bruins top center spot as he juggles young players

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Bruins rookie center Colby Cave admitted he was shocked when the coaches told him to get out on the ice with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak in Toronto against the Maple Leafs on Monday night. But Cave quickly went out there and calmly tried to play his game, and even wound up on the ice for one of Boston’s two goals in the 4-2 loss to the Leafs at the Scotiabank Arena.

“It’s pretty cool lining up with those guys. It’s one of those things where they’re going to find you, so you have to get to the right spots,” said Cave, who is scoreless in six career NHL games with the Bruins over the last two seasons. “It’s just playing with confidence. I’m three years pro now, so the nerves should be gone at this point. I’m just trying to help the lineup and help the team win. When the injury bug hits like it right now, it’s up to guys like us to come up and help the team win.”

It was a reflection of how steady and good Cave has been when it comes to the little details since being called up as yet another injury replacement from Providence. Unfortunately it was also a bit of a reaction to the first subpar effort from fellow rookie Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, who Bruce Cassidy didn’t miss words about after dropping him in the lineup against the Leafs.

“I didn’t like his compete [against the Leafs],” said Cassidy. “We’ve talked about this. He needs to bring it every night if he wants to play with [Marchand and Pastrnak]. The other night it was Sidney Crosby, [against Toronto] it was John Tavares. It’s a big ask. I’ve said it too. We weren’t sure if he was ready to be moved up, and we saw something we liked so we moved him up.

“[Against Toronto] we didn’t see as much of it and we moved Colby up. JFK was a little more comfortable as a third line center. Going forward until we get Bergeron back it’s going to be a work in progress. I like how Cave responded. It’s his opportunity and he wants to take advantage of it, so he’s doing everything he can.”

Forsbacka Karlsson finished with 10:58 of ice time and was a minus-1 while losing 5-of-7 draws in the face-off circle while Cave was on the ice for Pastrnak’s second goal of the game, had five shot attempts in 16:18 of ice time and battled to 7-of-16 face-off wins while playing the second half of the game with Boston’s top line. Certainly a young kid like JFK is going to get more looks centering the top line based on how well he played over the weekend against Pittsburgh and Montreal, but give Cave credit for showing a little something in a big spot in Toronto that could raise his profile with the organization he can keep playing well.  

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