Claude Julien isn’t afraid to say that he’s doing the best he can when it comes to putting together a solid top-six with the injuries the Bruins have up front. What he’s appeared to settle on is a trio of David Krejci between Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic – a line that’s scored a ton – and a line of Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and Jordan Caron. 

There are things to like about both lines. Caron is showing that he can handle big-boy minutes against top lines, as his hit on Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin created the turnover that led to Marchand’s breakaway goal Saturday. The Krejci line, meanwhile, has seen its namesake score five goals over the six games it’s been a unit.

Yet the top two lines have been far from bulletproof for the Bruins. Prior to putting Caron on Bergeron’s unit Thursday, Brian Rolston had a less than stellar showing on the line. And when Marchand scored in the second period Saturday, it was the first goal scored by a member of the line in the last seven games, and just the second goal the line had produced (Johnny Boychuk’s goal Thursday) in that span.

“When pucks aren’t going in, you’ve got to focus on getting your opportunities, and as long as you’re getting opportunities, you can’t complain,” Marchand said after Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Capitals. “You’ve just got to keep going and eventually they will go in. They did today.”

The bigger issue, it seems, is the goals against for the Krejci line. In the six games since Julien put the trio together, they've produced plenty, but they've also allowed goals at an alarming rate. The entire trio has been on the ice for one goal against in five of the six games, while Krejci has been on the ice for 10 goals against in the span (including two opponents' power-play goals). Seguin and Lucic have each been out there for six goals against over the last six games.

“The Krejci line still produces opportunities and chances but where they’ve got to get better is those goals against,” Julien said after Saturday’s loss. “You can score but if you’re going to score goals and get scored against, at the end of the night it’s a wash-out, you can’t really say you had a positive impact on the game.”

On Saturday, both Krejci and Seguin had minus-2 ratings. Lucic scored late in the first period, but it was on a line with Bergeron and Rolston that had been put out there specifically for the faceoff in the Capitals’ zone with less than 10 seconds to go in the period. 

As the last few games have shown, the Bruins haven’t had an issue when it comes to getting secondary scoring, as Caron has stepped up big over the last four games (three goals, four assists). Still, it’s been far from perfect offensively for the Bruins, and that might only be fixed by healthier bodies. 

MOTTAU-FFENSIVE PRESENCE

It’s a testament to Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell that you can put literally anyone on their line, and it can still be effective. 

First, it was Brad Marchand for the first half of last season. Then, it was Daniel Paille. Other players have been in and out of that spot over the last couple of seasons, with Lane MacDermid playing on the wing recently. What happened Saturday really pushed it, as the B’s had to play a defenseman up front -- and it wasn’t so bad. 

The Bruins fully expected Benoit Pouliot to be ready to go Saturday. After leaving Tuesday’s win over the Maple Leafs in the second period and missing the next day’s practice with a lower-body injury, Pouliot returned to the lineup Thursday night. He wasn’t even a game-time decision, as Claude Julien declared after the team’s morning skate that Pouliot was fine and ready to play. Everything went according to plan Thursday night, and No. 67 got through the contest without any problems. He sat out Friday’s optional skate, but he took warmups Saturday as though he would play. 

“After warmups he just said he couldn’t go,” Julien explained after the game, “so it caught us a little bit off guard, obviously, and so we dressed with seven [defensemen].”

Mottau, who was in the lineup Thursday as a defenseman, was the one that made the move up to forward. The B’s put MacDermid on the third line in Pouliot’s place, while Mottau jumped onto the Merlot Line with Thornton and Campbell. 

The 33-year-old Mottau said he had played some shifts at forward in the minors, but that he had to go back to squirts to remember when he was last a full-time forward. 

“It’s definitely a little bit more difficult than it looks,” he said after the game. “Us D men usually give the forwards a hard time and the forwards give us a hard time back there, so now I understand what they go through. Just a little different positioning, not as much the play in front of you, it’s more around you. It took me a couple of shifts to get used to it. Overall, [I] just tried to keep it simple.”

Keep it simple he did. He only got 6:52 of ice time, but he fit in nicely on the forecheck and was, of course, defensively responsible enough to go back to the point on a third-period play in which Adam McQuaid pinched. As out of character as the role was, Mottau never seemed out of position. 

“I thought he did a great job,”Julien said of Mottau. “He adjusted well along the walls, he was getting pucks out in the number of shifts he had. He was very, very adequate as a replacement [today] to go out there and do a job when he was called upon. You know, kudos to him for doing a job in a position that he’s not used to playing all the time.”

While Mottau looked good up front, it’s safe to say the team viewed it as a one-time experiment out of necessity. The team called up forward Max Sauve following the game with the intention of dressing him Sunday should Pouliot not be able to go.