Krug kicks it into high gear
Torey Krug was slow out of the gate offensively this year, which was understandable since he was coming off a rather serious shoulder surgery in the offseason.
But right now, his game is just about where he wants it to be.
Krug yesterday picked up his third goal in as many games in the 6-3 trashing of the Flyers. He’s got a point in 10 of his last 12 games and his goal and assist gave him his fourth multi-point game in that stretch.
“I think he falls in the same bracket as ( Brad Marchand). He’s starting to feel it, and things are starting to come around for him,” said coach
Claude Julien. “When you’re confident, you can do a lot of things.”
With 28 points (four goals, 24 assists), Krug is now tied with David Krejci for third in team scoring behind Marchand (43) and David Pastrnak (33). “(The confidence) has been there for a while now,” said Krug. “Even though I wasn’t getting the goals and the results early on, I was just sticking with it and trying to make plays that I know I’m capable of making. Right now, it’s going in for me and I’m helping the team out. But it’s just about taking the same approach every game.”
Krug is showing some assertiveness in the defensive zone as well, which was evident yesterday on his pretty goal. The B’s had been kicking the puck around in their own zone until Adam McQuaid pushed the puck to him at the side of the net. Krug didn’t hesitate to skate it to the top of the circles before dishing it up to Pastrnak. Krug kept going to the Flyers net and was there to tip home Marchand’s beautiful pass.
“I can’t have that confidence without a guy like Quaider,” said Krug. “Quaider makes a great play behind the net — I know it probably gets overlooked by a lot of people — but he eliminates that guy and I pick up the puck and we’re off.
“So I have a lot of confidence right now in my game but that comes with the guys that are on the ice and that starts with Quaider.”
Pasta draws ’em up
Pastrnak drew four penalties, one of which was wiped out by an embellishment call. It shouldn’t have been.
“Calls are sometimes questionable, and on this one I think I stepped on the goalie and when he moved his glove he kind of tripped me,” said Pastrnak. “Other than that, I had an empty net, so I don’t see any reason why I would embellish?” . ..
When asked about Pastrnak’s “vision” for spotting him for his one-timer goal,
Zdeno Chara said, “I was hard to miss. I had my stick 15 feet in the air.” . . .
Marchand’s first period goal was his 21st shorthanded tally, the most of any player since he entered the league in 2009-10.
While Marchand played in his 500th NHL game, Krejci’s goal was his 500th NHL point. . . . How do you know that
Ryan Spooner has gotten into Julien’s good graces? Julien used Spooner as a defensive replacement for Frank Vatrano on the Krejci-David Backes line in the third period.
Bruised blue line
One negative trend for the B’s is the way defensemen are dropping. In St. Louis, they lost McQuaid and Colin Miller to injury. Yesterday, Kevan Miller was knocked out of the game when he was hit from behind by Jakub Voracek.
The Flyers winger actually backed into Miller, but he was tagged with a fiveminute major. There was no word on his condition.
“It’s probably the old upper body syndrome,” said Julien.