The Bruins’ fourth line continued their excellent early season work in the B’s 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers. The trio of Johnny Beecher, Mark Kastelic and Cole Koepke was on the ice for all three Bruin goals with Beecher scoring his first of the year and Kastelic assisting on the all three goals.

The unit has easily been the B’s best forward group this season. Good for them, not so good for the team overall.

“The fourth line has been very, very impressive,” said Montgomery. “They’re just doing their role. Guys in the top six aren’t doing their role, they are doing their role.”

Captain Brad Marchand agreed.

“They’ve been unbelievable the way they compete and bring it every night. The rest of us need to take a page out of their book and be a lot better. But they’re definitely carrying the weight right now,” said Marchand.

Beecher has been very good this year, keeping plays alive in the offensive zone while also killing plays defensively. Kastelic has come as advertised – a tough, physical player who can lean his 6-foot-4 frame on his opponents. And Koepke, who was not able to blossom with the Lightning organization, has been a nice surprise.

“I think we’re all just playing the same style. They’re both big, fast players who play north-south. I think we’re just keeping it simple, playing with some confidence,” said Beecher. “I think the bounces are kind of going our way right now. We’re going to have some nights where they’re not. We’re just going to have to stick to our game and keep trying to get momentum for the guys out there.”

Beecher’s goal was not exactly a thing off beauty, but a manifestation of the line’s work ethic. Kastelic threw a puck at the net and Beecher was where he was supposed to be, in the slot, ,causing havoc.

“Just hit me right off the knee pad. I’ll take ‘em however I can get them,” said Beecher. “But it was great play by Kasty just getting the shot through and I just happened to be at the right place, right time.”

In his rookie season last year, Beecher’s play was up and down and he was eventually sent back to Providence. It’s early now, but he has been able to maintain his compete level.

“Maturity, his ability to handle more minutes, so I guess that goes with strength and conditioning. And just his overall confidence, knowing his role and relishing it,” said Montgomery of Beecher’s improvement.

Confidence is what Beecher pointed to as well.

“I’m holding on to pucks a little longer and having trust in myself to make some plays and do the right thing out there. We’re only four games in but we’re off to a pretty good start. We just have to keep it going,” said Beecher….

With the top three lines struggling to produce, Montgomery juggled all his lines. Morgan Geekie, who has started this season with Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle on a second line, got bumped and was the B’s low man in icetime at 9:33.

At one point, Marchand was skating with Matt Poitras and Justin Brazeau.

“Monty does that when things aren’t always clicking. I thought we had a couple of good shifts, but a couple of times where we could have been better,” said Marchand….

A.J. Greer hit David Pastrnak from behind in the first period, causing the B’s to get undisciplined again. But Marchand did not think that the Panthers were targeting Pastrnak too badly.

“It was one play. Greersie got him from behind. You usually target the other team’s best player so whenever he has the puck they’re going to go after him. But I don’t think they were going at him too hard,” said Marchand, who didn’t make much of the non-call. “That’s part of the game. The puck was right there. It goes both ways. It’s part of the game.”…

Marchand on the power play woes after after the B’s went 0-for-4 and giving up a shorthanded goal: “I think we need to be stronger in battles and we need to outnumber teams. Sometimes you just need to simplify. You ave to outnumber the kill in the battles and come up with pucks. We haven’t come up with pucks enough. And then the odd time we force a couple. We’ve had a couple of games that were good. Their PK is always very good, very tough to play against. But we haven’t had a ton of practice time, so it’s definitely something we’ll work on (Tuesday).”

The B’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena on Tuesday (10:30 am) before jetting out to Denver to start a three-game road trip.