DeBrusk mad about it
Attitude shift pays dividends
MONTREAL — There’s been a shift in Jake DeBrusk’s game.
The second-year winger struggled out of the gate, but has quietly risen near the top of the Bruins leading scorers with 10 goals on the season. One of them came at home against Pittsburgh on Friday night before a power play tally Saturday night in Montreal.
Something has clicked, and the timing isn’t a coincidence.
“Before the Vancouver game, that was my best game of the season to that point, I had a meeting with Bruce (Cassidy) and the coaching staff,” said DeBrusk. “It was something I was thinking about as well. They weren’t getting on me about production because I was playing a pretty solid game overall, was pretty sound defensively. So they weren’t too on me about that, it was moreso the pressure I put on myself.”
While DeBrusk and the staff went over some film and discussed things such as his footwork, the 22-yearold came to his own conclusions as for what can change.
“I think it was kind of the mindset I go to the rink with,” he said. “I called my dad and talked. I think it’s a matter of playing, maybe mad. Come to the rink mad, just try something different. Whatever it was before wasn’t working.”
In his last six games DeBrusk has totaled five goals and he’s added nine points overall in his last 10 contests, seven of them goals. He picked up 16 goals a year ago as a rookie, and, without a goal until five games into the season and then another two gaps of four games between tallies, it looked like a sophomore slump.
DeBrusk picked up an assist against Dallas a few nights before the 8-5 loss to the Canucks, where he scored twice. Since then, his new, angrier approach seems to have flipped a switch.
His four shots in that game were the most he had in six games, and since then he’s found a way to get at least a couple shots on net in every game but one.
If the aggression has anything to do with a change of mentality, it’s worked.
“I’m a pretty happy-golucky guy, so it’s kind of hard for me to get mad,” he said. “But it comes down to competition and a matter of who wants it more. The puck’s finding me and I’m just trying to bury it and generate chances for my linemates.”
DeBrusk finished with 27 assists last season and has always been involved on that part of the scoresheet, but with just two assists this season, that part of his game has taken a backseat.
Some of that is his center, David Krejci, has posted 17 assists and four of them have been on DeBrusk goals. The second line has had the right wing rotated all season, but that pair has stayed consistent and has developed its own rapport.
Even still, while DeBrusk’s scoring touch has returned, getting his facilitating game back is on the agenda.
“I haven’t had too many assists this year, which has been kind of shocking, because usually I get more assists,” said DeBrusk. “That will come around as well. There’s going to be waves during the season and right now I’m on an upswing and I’m not looking to go down anytime soon.”
For a player who exuberates a positive attitude and kept his head on through his mild slump, DeBrusk has been willing to adjust the way he approaches coming to the rink. So far, his scoring has returned, and at a time where the Bruins needed some firepower.
It might be different than the way he’s used to going about his business, but he’s not questioning what works.
“I’m finding some consistency with it,” said DeBrusk. “So I’m just going to try to keep it going.”