Jake DeBrusk is one of the Boston Bruins’ most polarizing players in terms of fan perception. You either love him or you want him shipped away.
It’s hard to deny, though, that the seven-year veteran left wing has been mighty valuable in the first two games of the opening-round playoff matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a series that is tied 1-1 after the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 win Monday at TD Garden.
And while he leads the Bruins with four points (two goals, two assists) in the two games, DeBrusk has also been a vital cog in many other aspects of his game — from playmaking; to all-out hustling; to getting back quickly on the defensive end; to being right in the thick of the grinding, highly-physical play in the corners, along the boards, and in front of the net.
In a 5-1 Game 1 win Saturday , DeBrusk scored two power-play goals, including a beautiful snipe, as shown at about the 3:13 mark of the video above. On the other one, he smartly bent down extra low and ended up on one knee while sweeping in a pass from Brad Marchand from behind the net. He was reminiscent of a baseball catcher, using his body to not allow the ball (or puck in this case) to get past.
Notoriously streaky, DeBrusk also had a non-power-play assist in the opener — on defenseman Brandon Carlo’s rocket slap shot. And, in a 3-2 Game 2 loss Monday, the winger had a helper on a power-play goal by Morgan Geekie.
For the past few months, fans and pundits alike have loudly said the Bruins were going to need DeBrusk to perform at a high level in the playoffs. That thinking was summed up nicely in an April 5 TheHockeyNews.com article by Michael DeRose:
“With the playoffs right around the corner, they need No. 74 (DeBrusk) to be playing his best hockey. When he’s hot, he’s a significant part of their top six, and the Bruins are a much tougher team to go up against because of it,” DeRosa wrote.
DeBrusk’s contributions haven’t gone unnoticed by head coach Jim Montgomery.
“It’s nice to see him get rewarded for a lot of the hard work he’s done all year,” the coach said after Game 1.
So, indeed, the energized DeBrusk has definitely pulled through. The question now for him is a familiar one that crops up whenever he breaks a cold streak: Can he stay hot?
Power Play Appears to Be Past Its Struggles, for Now at Least
The power play as a whole has been strong in the series so far, converting three times on seven chances for a 42.86 percentage. That’s up from 22.22% in the regular season.
There has been good puck movement and a nice rhythm, as can be seen in the video below of Geekie’s Game 2 goal.
Geeks got it started. pic.twitter.com/X7DR6A9PJt
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 22, 2024
The way Montgomery formulated his two power play units is interesting. Both include one offensive defenseman, one star winger, one top-six center/bumper, one spark plug and one big body. As seen below, the two units basically keep the team’s top two regular lines together.
The same question posed about DeBrusk can be applied here, too. Can the power play stay hot moving forward?
Stopping Auston Matthews Is Critical for B’s
Boston’s Game 1 shutdown of Toronto superstar Auston Matthews in Game 1 might not mean too much in the long run, especially since he broke through in Game 2 by figuring in all three Maple Leafs goals. And it was a seriously nifty third-period game-winner that he scored on a breakaway, catching a lob pass with his hand, letting the puck fall as he skated past McAvoy, and deking out goaltender Linus Ullmark.
The high pass from Max Domi caught McAvoy flat-footed at the blue line — a rare undisciplined play by the veteran defenseman.
Matthews, who scored a league-leading 69 goals in the regular season, added two assists. For sure, he can’t be getting three-point nights in future games if Boston wants to capture the series.
In an April 20 spot-on series preview by 985thesportshub.com, Matthews being a difference-maker was presented as a foregone conclusion: “Try as the Bruins might, the odds indicate that Matthews will play a significant role in this series.”
After the regular season Matthews put together, some people may exclaim “Duh” after reading that, but essentially, it had to be stated. So the biggest challenge for Boston now is clearly making sure Matthews doesn’t hurt them in the remaining contests, and that is way easier said than done. Duh, right?
Goalie Tandem Is Working
There’s been all positives concerning the goaltending tandem of Jeremy Swayman and Ullmark heading into Game 3 Wednesday in Toronto.
In Game 1, Swayman made 35 saves and was “spectacular,” according to a NESN.com article.
YahooSports wrote that Ullmark, who made 30 saves, was “teriffic” and mentioned him as the Bruins’ best player in Game 2.
Indeed, both were great and made many outstanding stops, though Ullmark was under more pressure with a closer game to deal with than Swayman, and he had to make more acrobatic saves.
No matter what, though, there will be those critical of Montgomery’s choice to platoon them — like in this item from X:
Swayman 4-4 career in playoffs, Ullmark is 3-6. Sway plays well vs Leafs, Ullmark wasn’t bad but you gotta go with Sway next 2 games
— LA Beach Hero 😎 (@LA_Gringo) April 23, 2024
To be fair, there are also those who are in favor of the tandem:
The Leafs might end up out chancing and, debatably, outplaying Boston every game and lose in a sweep because of this incredible goalie tandem of Swayman and Ullmark
— Maize & Burner (@Maizeandburner) April 23, 2024
Because the platoon has worked all the way through the regular season and is working now, I say continue to go with two goalies.
