Claude Julien had an interesting choice to make when it came to the second line this season. With Mark Recchi retiring, the two obvious candidates to take his spot on the wing with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand were veteran winger Rich Peverley and second-year player Tyler Seguin. Peverley had the experience with the line (beginning in Game 7 of the conference finals last year, he began taking some of Recchi's shifts), while Seguin had the upside that comes with being the second-overall pick. 

Julien gave Peverley the first look, and so far it's been the right look. Peverley began playing with the line in the Sept. 23 preseason game against the Islanders, and a four-point night kept him with Bergeron and Marchand. Though the Bruins are only 120 minutes into the young season, the speedy and defensively responsible trio has been the best line to hit the ice this season for Boston. 

“He really felt that coming here, what he noticed is how hard everybody competed in practice and just pushed everybody to get better,” Julien said of Peverley. “He feels he’s gotten better since he’s come here because of the inter-competition in practice and guys pushing each other, not letting each other off the hook.” 

After Marchand scored Boston's only goal in Thurdsday night's season-opening 2-1 loss to the Flyers, both Marchand and Peverley had two-point nights for the Bruins in Saturday's 4-1 win over the Lightning. Peverley had a pair of goals, both of which were assisted by Marchand, while Bergeron had the primary helper on Peverley's second goal.  

Neither of Peverley's goals were pretty, as he served as the garbage man Saturday night. Both of tallies came from close range, the first of which saw him bury a rebound off a shot from Marchand that rang off both posts before bounding out, with the other one coming when a pass from Bergeron to Marchand wound up getting caught in traffic before Peverley stepped in to clean it up. 

“He knew I was going there so he just went there in case there was going to be a rebound,” Bergeron said of Peverley’s second goal. “It’s just a smart play by him to go there.”

MOORE TROUBLE FOR MARCHAND

While Marchand's feisty playing style has made him a cult hero here in Boston, it has also put a bit of a target on his back. Marchand's first full season in Boston led to comparisons to Ken Linseman, and he got scrappier as the season went on. Now that he's a big name, there also might be a bigger target on his back. Marchand got tangled up with both Steve Downie and Dominic Moore Saturday, with Moore ripping him down to the ice by the head in the second period. 

"I don't like that guy," Marchand said of Moore. "He was bothering me a bit." 

There is obviously bad blood between the two teams after the Bruins narrowly got by the Lightning in a seven-game series, but Marchand should probably get used to guys trying to drop him. Not every player is going to have a Daniel Sedin-like non reaction to Marchand's fiery style, something he knows, but that doesn't mean he's going to stop. As long as he doesn't cross the line he occasionally crossed last year, he won't be too scared of guys coming after him. 

"I'm not too worried about what other guys are going to do or how other teams are going to play," Marchand said. "I'm more concerned about being focused for every game and just playing the same way I did toward the end of the year. As long as I do that and don't let other guys distract me, I'll be happy with things." 

Marchand has certainly given the Bruins reason to be happy about things. He’s two games into his two-year, $5 million contract and has arguably been the team’s best player. After an offseason of conditioning brought him into camp in tremendous shape, it seems any doubt about a sophomore slump can be put to rest. 

Said Julien: “It’s like anything else – Stanley Cup hangovers – those are things that people talk about. We don’t have to believe it. It’s up to us to just go out there and control what we want to control. That goes with the sophomore jinx or slump or whatever you want to call it. He doesn’t want to believe in that. … He knows he’s well-liked here, and he’s becoming a popular guy, and all he’s got to do is keep playing the way he is.”