Lucic made statement in his first game back
The mission for Milan Lucic was clear: Come back to Boston and provide some physicality and piloting while grinding away on the fourth line.
The muscle and the leadership have been evident since the sweltering days of summer when the 35-year-old Lucic showed up in excellent shape and kept pace with some of his younger teammates. He leaned on them on the ice and offered guidance in the locker room.
Not a lot of people expected the hulking Lucic to generate enough offense to earn a promotion to the top line midway through the 3-1 seasonopening win over the Blackhawks Wednesday night.
Lucic turned back the clock, skating as if his feet were on fire from the opening jump. No doubt he was buoyed by the raucous ovations and familiar “Loooch” calls that erupted every time he touched the puck or stapled a Blackhawk to the boards.
Lucic’s highlight moment came when he shuffled a backhander to David Pastrnak, whose wrister past Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom in the second period proved to be the winner. In true Lucic fashion, he kept barreling toward the net after the feed, in case there was a rebound to pounce on.
Asked after Thursday’s practice if his expectations for Lucic have changed, coach Jim Montgomery said, “Yes and no, and I would say no in the sense that we knew he was going to be really important to our leadership group and I knew that not only is he a physical presence in the league, but he can make plays.
“I think his ability to make plays is very underrated by everybody. He’s a guy that can make finishing plays. We saw in the exhibition season, we saw it last night, the backhand sauce. Not a lot of people make that play that easily at full speed.
“But if he keeps playing like this, obviously he’s going to be rewarded with more ice time than maybe even I envision, never mind everybody else. And that’s because he’s building a team game and he’s making plays.”
On a night when the Bruins feted their legends, it was appropriate that Lucic — a Stanley Cup champion, fan favorite, and member of the franchise’s “Historic 100” team — was front and center.
“He had a really good camp, and he’s carrying it over,” Montgomery said following the win. “He came here in tremendous shape. Not only what you guys see on the ice, but the way he’s talking on the bench, he’s taken over a real important leadership role of talking about how to build our team game and about the important details.
“He was saying in the last two minutes of the first, ‘Got to get pucks in and get pucks out,’ and it’s just good reminders and it means more to the teammates when it comes from a player.”
If Lucic remains on the fourth line with Johnny Beecher and Jakub Lauko, he’s OK with that.
“Our shifts were good,” he said. “We spent the majority of the time in the O-zone, created a penalty. First shift, we had a scoring chance right off the get-go.
“We’re three guys that play straight-line hockey, and we can use our size and speed.”
Willing and able
Count Montgomery among those who were impressed with Beecher’s first fisticuffs.
The center had to answer Jason Dickinson’s invitation after Beecher’s boarding penalty on Cole Guttman.
“First of all, we thought it was great that Beech did that, and it shows the willingness first,” said the coach. “The most important thing in a fight is that you’re willing and then the element of learning how to and stuff.
“We have guys that know how to on our team, so there’s a lot of little brother out there that we encourage. But also, if that’s something, if you know it’s going to be part of your game, whether it’s one or three times a year, taking that upon themselves to learn the tricks and training in the offseason. The most important thing is knowing how to defend yourself.”
Right on the dot
The Bruins won 34 of 54 faceoffs, with top centers Pavel Zacha (8 of 11) and Charlie Coyle (8 of 16) tying for game-high honors. Beecher (6 of 11) and Morgan Geekie (6 of 8) also fared well . . . Charlie McAvoy led the Bruins in ice time (22:55), followed by Hampus Lindholm (21:29). Lindholm was a plus-3 on the night . . . Chicago rookie Connor Bedard, who scored his first NHL goal, had a game-high six shots. Pastrnak led the Bruins with four . . . The club is off Friday and will return to the Garden ice for a Saturday night faceoff with the Predators.