Monty mixed up the lines so much in this game that Natural Stat Trick recorded 7 different combinations who spent meaningful 5v5 time on the ice together. The best line was undoubtedly Poitras centering Zacha and Pasta. They didn't completely dominate, but in a game where the 1st period was awful and the 3rd saw the Bruins spent a lot of time short-handed and then undermanned, a 7-3 shot count, 59 CF% and 3 high danger chances to 1 are good going, all topped by McAvoy's goal. And all that despite Poitras getting destroyed on the dot. Apart from that and his unfortunate error on the Panthers' 2nd goal, which are standard rookie issues, the kid came up big again. Not sure that line is something we'll see long-term, because I don't think the resulting implication of leaving Coyle and Geekie as the 2 & 3Cs is sustainable, but it was good to see them do well here.
The other lines did ok. Coyle, DeBrusk and Marchand struggled to generate much offense but they did score on one of their few real chances and didn't concede, so that's a fine result all the same. JVR, Geekie and Frederic feels like a bit of an unusual mix, but they actually performed pretty well. 5 high danger chances to 1, just couldn't bury any. As an experiment, it may warrant a further look.
Some big minutes for the defenders. 24 mins each for Carlo and Forbort, 28 for Lindholm. Say what you will about some of his indifferent performances so far this year, but the guy's a workhorse and can carry a lot of responsibility. He did the job in this one.
Another game where the Bruins fought through some tough moments to bag a win. Another game where they probably shouldn't have. Different scenarios continue to present themselves, and they continue to deliver in almost all of them. The will to win and the ability to keep finding a way are strong in this group.