Spoon-Fed in March, Is Claude Julien Ready to Loosen the Leash on Bruins Rookies?

Claude Julien is in the midst of an identity crisis.

March had to be an extremely difficult month for the Bruins’ coach, having to rely on Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak — a pair of forwards whose combined age is still two years less than that of Florida Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr — in order to maintain a three-point lead on the Ottawa Senators for the second NHL wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The impact that the “Spooner Line” had on Boston’s 9-3-4 record last month is impossible to avoid, even for Julien, whose reluctance to give rookies Spooner and Pastrnak — Seventh Player Award Winner Pastrnak — equivalent ice time even to the likes of whipping boys Greg Campbell and Daniel Paille, has been a frequent source of consternation among Bruins fans.

The Bruins went 8-3-4 for the month, which ultimately raises the question: where would they be today without the emergence of the kids?

“That line probably has been our most productive line in the month of March,” Julien said.

Yeah. “Probably.”

Along with forward Milan Lucic, who scored the game-winner Tuesday evening with 1:09 remaining to give the Bruins a six-point cushion over Florida, the line has been the scoring spark that the sometimes-floundering, sometimes-soaring Bruins needed to get over the hump in their playoff push. Spooner, the 23-year old whom Julien famously called out during training camp for his defensive inefficiencies, led the team in scoring last month with six goals and eight assists. Pastrnak was second with 13 points, Lucic, third with 10.

Julien loosened the leash on the trio in the third period against Florida, resulting in a game-tying goal from Pastrnak (or Spooner, depending on what you wanted to see from the replay), and Lucic’s Man of Will goal while surrounded by all five Panthers skates to seal the victory. You only have to go as far back as Sunday to find the last time Spooner and Pastrnak contributed to a win, with bookending goals in an overtime win at Carolina.

“Let’s not kid ourselves. From the first time they were together, it was always a real tough matchup for me to make sure it was really the right situation,” Julien told reporters after his team’s 3-2 win over the Panthers Tuesday night, all but eliminating Jagr’s latest franchise from playoff contention. “Now I’m a little bit more flexible because they’re getting better and they’re getting more experience.”

Yet every night the pair is fighting for ice time because of Julien’s comfort level with veteran two-way players, while the offensive-minded rookies give him ample reason why they should be on the ice more often during the final five games of the regular season.

In 24 games, Spooner has as many goals (seven) as Chris Kelly has in 75. Pastrnak has as many points (27) as Julien’s favorite plugger in 34 fewer games. For comparison’s sake, Tyler Sequin had 11 goals and 11 assists in his rookie season. Pastrnak has 11 goals and 16 assists.

Seguin also played 74 games that season.

Pastrnak is a plus-14, fourth-best on the team. Spooner is a plus-two. That’s better than Gregory Campbell (plus-one). And did anyone mention that Paille is a minus-nine for the season?

On those merits alone, there’s no excuse for the rookies not to be getting more ice time in looking to secure a postseason berth, though once in the playoffs, it may be back to hiding them on the bench. That’s probably the right avenue unless you need a burst of skill, a la Seguin vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2011.

But right now? While the fight is still on? Julien has to roll the dice with the duo, which has clearly found chemistry this month with Lucic, who has come alive when his team needs it most.

“We can’t get caught running around,” Lucic said. “It’s something we’re going to have to get better at if we want to contribute to this team with five games left and into the playoffs. You don’t want to restrict Claude from putting you out there just because of that.”

It seems any excuse might do that, and lately, there have been very few.

But Brett Connolly might end up being one.

Remember that guy? Connolly, who broke his finger during his second practice with the Bruins after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning at last month’s trading deadline, could be close to playing, and that might mean David Krejci’s return to center, possibly flanked by Connolly and Lucic. That would mean an end to the Spooner line, as presently constituted, a factor that will probably give Julien some sense of relief for his systematic game plan, and one that will frustrate the confused souls of the Bruins fan base, which have been enlightened as of late, watching the skill of the Spooner Experiment succeed in spite of Julien.

So, will Clade cuddle up with his comfy blanket, or will he toss off the covers and let abandon be served?

This has to be driving him nuts.