Brassard hopes outburst sparks Senators’ offence
After leading the Senators in first-round scoring, it took Derick Brassard until the 59th minute of Game 5 to pick up a point against his former team.
But a very important point it was, and an even bigger point it could still become.
Upon hopping over the boards and skating to the net as the extra attacker, Brassard displayed baseball and pool skills when he swatted the puck out of mid-air and watch it change directions off at least three, maybe four Rangers before entering the net for a goal that sent the game to an overtime win for the Senators.
The five goals scored by the Senators spelled relief for a team that had just two in the previous two games. Through the first four games of the series, only six different Ottawa skaters had been able to beat Henrik Lundqvist.
Brassard thinks Saturday’s outburst could have a ripple effect.
“It was tough offensively for our team at the beginning of the series,” Brassard said on Monday.
“It was good to see a lot of our offensive guys get rewarded last game. Hopefully, it’s going to give some energy, some confidence to everyone in this dressing room.
Mike Hoffman also scored his first goal of the series on Saturday, while Kyle Turris and Mark Stone picked up their second.
Clarke MacArthur had his first two assists.
Bobby Ryan, who was the Senators’ second leading scorer in the Bruins series, has an assist but is still looking for his first goal of Round 2.
Brassard, meanwhile, expects to build off his luckiness.
“Sometimes you get a bounce, it gives you so much confidence as a hockey player,” he said. “Sometimes (when you’re not scoring) you’re wondering. You want to produce for the team and you’re not sure why (it’s not happening). Sometimes you just need to be in the right place at the right time. It just needs to bounce at the right spot. That’s just the game of hockey. It’s just a matter of inches. Sometimes it takes just one and you kind of roll with it.”