Rookie wingers take flight
DeBrusk, Donato light it up
Before the Bruins’ 5-1 drubbing of the Florida Panthers yesterday, one of the many questions facing coach Bruce Cassidy was which skillful rookie left winger would he have to take out of the lineup come playoff time, presuming he had a healthy roster with Rick Nash available.
Jake DeBrusk has had a very promising rookie season, and the explo- siveness of Ryan Donato, fresh out of Harvard, has been eye-opening.
Yesterday the two kids with NHL pedigrees seemed to give Cassidy a message of their own with their combined performances: Pick somebody else to scratch, coach.
After an initial hiccup that led to an early 1-0 Florida lead, the rookies — centered by crafty veteran David Krejci — bounced back to produce five points between them. DeBrusk, playing his first game since missing eight with an upper body injury, scored two goals with an assist, while Donato added a goal and an assist to the B’s attack. Donato was on the ice for every goal of the game.
There are still regular season games to be played, there’s still first overall in the Eastern Conference to secure and there’s still time for a few too many rookie moments to cost either one of them playing time. But against a supposedly desperate Panthers team, neither one of them looked like a candidate to come out of the lineup.
Both young players are bright and articulate and they know they’ve got to prove themselves without a shadow of doubt to be trusted with playoff minutes. And you can bet that their fathers have let them know how difficult this is. DeBrusk’s father Louie played 401 NHL games for Edmonton, Tampa Bay, Phoenix and Chicago while Donato’s old man, Ted, played 796 for the Bruins, Islanders, Senators, Ducks, Stars, Kings, Blues and Rangers.
“It’s really tough at this level,” said Ryan Donato, who played on his off wing yesterday. “You’re playing with great players and a lot of veteran guys who have worked their way into the NHL and into this team. It’s not easy to be one of those younger guys to come in and demand ice time by playing to the best of their abilities.
“I think it’s really tough. But if you’re playing well, I think the guys will enjoy having you there.”
DeBrusk admitted he was getting a bit antsy sitting out and watching while the team was climbing to the top of the conference standings.
“Just watching the last (eight) games, it’s been pretty exciting to watch, different guys are stepping up and (Patrice Bergeron’s) line is doing their thing and it’s been amazing,” said DeBrusk. “I was itching to get back and do anything I can to help the team win, just try to play my game and not do too much.
“I felt a little rusty today, to be honest, but it was nice to get on the board and help the team win. But, yeah, I was missing it a lot, especially the last couple of games.”
While both players are highly skilled, they’ve got other things going for them. They seem as equally adept at scoring the greasy goals — like DeBrusk’s second one, when he jammed home a loose puck through James Reimer’s skates — as well as the pretty ones, like Donato’s wrister from the high slot. And both players seem to have that intangible quality of relishing a challenge, wanting to atone for mistakes.
On the Panthers’ goal 4:59 into the game, there was blame to go around. DeBrusk was late to the slot to block the initial shot, and then Donato was caught fishing for the puck while Jamie McGinn jammed home the rebound.
By midway through the second period, they made that goal against a distant memory. After Krejci beautifully set up Nick Holden for the equalizer, Donato took the puck from Alex Petrovic behind the net and fed DeBrusk for what turned out to be the game-winning goal late in the first. Then Donato’s hard wrist shot at 1:32 of the second seemed to take all the life out of the Panthers.
“It’s tough on the first shift and being a part of a dash on the ice. You don’t want to be one of those guys and it was definitely a motivator,” said Donato. “There wasn’t much we could do (about the goal against) but we knew we had to get that goal back, for sure.”
From the very start of the season, one of the foundational pillars built into this Bruins team has been internal competition, especially among the many young players like DeBrusk, Danton Heinen and Matt Grzelcyk to name a few. And as we’re nearing the second season, that approach is still paying off.
“There are only so many spots,” surmised Cassidy, “and I think they want their spot.”
For Donato and DeBrusk yesterday, that much was obvious.