BOSTON — In theory, Bruins Coach Claude Julien has everything he needs right now in forwards. He finally has Brett Connolly at his disposal, David Krejci is back in the lineup as well, and he has enough bodies to create a little competition.

But in reality, his forward lines are as unsettled as they’ve ever been since his first season with the B’s eight years ago, and he’s got precious little time to figure out where all the widgets fit.

With three possible must-win road games standing between the Bruins and the playoffs, they do not have a single line that has played so well in all three zones that it can’t be broken up.

Looking both relieved and a little wrung out after his team squeaked out a shootout victory over the spoiler-minded Maple Leafs (Toronto did manage to prevent the B’s from posting an important regulation/overtime win, which is the first standings tiebreaker) on Saturday, Julien said everything is pretty much up for discussion when it comes to his lines.

“Nothing’s carved in stone right now,” Julien said. “So it gives you (the media) a lot of opportunities to make the lines for us and I can read those and decide which one makes the most sense.”

Julien was joking but the pressure he’s facing in finding the right combinations isn’t all that funny.

Any coach will tell you it’s better to have options but there are also a couple of question marks among those options.

A chief one is Krejci, who is still working his way back from an MCL tear. If he was playing at 100 percent, it’s a good bet he would not be playing on center Patrice Bergeron’s right wing. Krejci is a center and, when he’s on, he’s one of the best in the league. He’s improving, but his skating is still not quite there.

Julien tried moving Krejci back to center in Thursday’s game at Detroit, and it was pretty much a disaster. It was hard to tell how much Krejci’s skating contributed to that and how much other factors were responsible. Carl Soderberg, who is also more productive as a center, was on Krejci’s left wing. Also, Krejci had the left-shooting Loui Eriksson on his right wing and Krejci has always been more comfortable with a right-shooting right wing.

Maybe Krejci would be ready to be a centerman with the correct wings around him, maybe not. I’d give him another shot in the middle Wednesday at Washington.

The other question pertains to Connolly and where to play him. In a perfect world, Connolly would not have broken his finger in his second practice as a Bruin and his spot would have been figured out by now. But right now he’s getting a crash course in just about all his new teammates tendencies. In just two games, the right winger already has played on a fourth line with Gregory Campbell and Chris Kelly and another line with Kelly and Max Talbot, a line with Milan Lucic and Ryan Spooner and a unit with Soderberg and Eriksson.

Since Julien was looking for suggestions – sort of – then here goes:

With his good shot and strength along the walls, Connolly’s the perfect right winger for Krejci at center. Try Smith on Krejci’s left wing, because although he didn’t have a good game against Toronto, he’s shown signs that he’s ready to awaken from his second-half slumber.

That would allow Lucic to remain with Spooner and David Pastrnak, who’ve comprised the B’s most productive offensive line.

Move Eriksson up to play with Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Eriksson seemed like a bad fit when he originally was tried there last season, but his confidence and comfort level within the team is such that he just might be able to excel there now.

That would leave a fourth line of Kelly and Soderberg, who play well with each other, and a choice of Talbot, Campbell and the now forgotten Daniel Paille as the third man on that line.

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