Bruins downplay line changes, not panicking

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BOSTON -- Tyler Seguin skated with Chris Kelly and Benoit Pouliot. Brad Marchand skated with Greg Campbell and Shawn Thornton.

Usually, those are the Bruins' third and fourth lines, respectively. And after coach Claude Julien switched up his offensive combos at Friday's practice at the TD Garden, Seguin was asked how it felt to be moved down.

"Moving down, eh?" asked Seguin, partially under his breath, but loud enough for the surrounding microphones to pick up.

Seguin was trying not to disrespect Kelly and Pouliot. But he was also unintentionally describing the mood in the Bruins dressing room following Thursday's Game 4 loss to the Washington Capitals, which evened their first-round playoff series at 2-2.

A few feet away, Kelly sat in front of his cubby, re-lacing his skates, and was a little more open about where the B's feel they stand, entering Saturday's Game 5 at the Garden.

"It seems to be that you guys a lot more panicked than we are," said Kelly. "It's a good hockey team over there. We're tied 2-2. We've scored seven goals. They've scored seven goals. I think it's been an entertaining series. Both sides have been good in their own end. Both goalies have been good. And to me, that's the way the playoffs should be.

"By no means is there any panic in this room, and I'm sure there's no panic in their room," added Kelly. "It's two good teams playing a best-of-three series now, opposed to a best-of-seven."

The Capitals have a powerful offense. And if you told the Bruins -- heading into the series -- that they'd have the same amount of goals as Washington through four games, then they'd tell you their offense was doing pretty well for itself.

Instead, it's been their offense that hasn't been able to bury when necessary, which has been the difference in a series that very well could have ended in a Bruins sweep if they had some key offensive players playing their best hockey.

But that hasn't happened, and it's now a best-of-three series, and Julien has switched up the lines. Still, the Bruins say they aren't panicking

"I think the outside is overreacting to stuff," said Julien. "This is a 2-2 series right now. We're not down in it. It's tied. Like I've said, we've done a lot of good things. At the end of the day, we just haven't scored. That's the only major issue right now that we have, is the fact that we're not scoring."

He hopes his line changes spark that part of their game.

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