DeBrusk cooks on front burner
Point to point, Jake DeBrusk remains at the top of the Bruins’ speed chart. The 27year old right winger looks all the faster when the puck is going in the net for him, so lately he has been the Black ‘n’ Gold’s Jumpin’ Jake Flash, with eight goals and 14 points in the 14 games since the Christmas break.
For the last four weeks, that point-pergame production has been a significant boost over DeBrusk’s career average, which stood at 0.59 points per game entering this season.
The former first-round draft pick is finally back on a burner, a bonus for the Bruins, and especially good for DeBrusk, who is now in his eighth pro season and approaching unrestricted free agency July 1. Point-per-game players typically catch both eyeballs and suitcases full of cash in free agency.
“I think his production is the product of him holding on to pucks more,” mused coach Jim Montgomery, whose charges, winners of five straight, will take on the Hurricanes Wednesday night at the Garden. “The goal he scored [shorthanded Monday night vs. Winnipeg], he holds onto it . . . ends up going in the back of the net.”
To build his case, Montgomery reached for a figurative stopwatch, not to clock DeBrusk’s speed, but to clock in with a telling stat not to be found on the nightly scoresheet.
“You know,” Montgomery said, “he’s averaged, I think, in the last four home games here, close to 30 seconds a game with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone only. That’s a significant number, where like before, when he wasn’t producing, it was more like 14 [seconds].”
That’s how closely today’s NHLers are analyzed, their games dissected and scrutinized. By Montgomery’s math, DeBrusk spent 2:00 of his 62:54 of ice time the last four home games (all wins), with the puck stuck to his stick blade. He came out of it with three goals and 5 points. Prior to this 14-game run, DeBrusk had only 11 points in 31 games.
“In baseball,” said Montgomery, explaining the value of possessing pucks in the Ozone, “if you swing at the first three pitches, you’re not seeing pitches, you don’t foul any off, you don’t get your timing down, then all of sudden, we all see it, you go to 3 and 2, with four fouls balls … and he hits a double.”
In baseball, noted to Montgomery, it all adds up to the batter getting in synch with the pitcher’s delivery.
“It’s the same thing in hockey,” he said. “You’re holding on to that puck, you’re moving it, you’re getting it back, you’re creating plays, you start to get the vibe that it’s your night — that you’re on.”
Coyle’s game grows
Charlie Coyle, growing into his role as the club’s No. 1 center between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, has built his career around puck possession. While DeBrusk is the fastest afoot in the lineup, albeit with Jakub Lauko not far off the pace, Coyle is tops on the team for holding the puck and fending off those who try to filch it from him.
As a third liner, prior to the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, Coyle’s puck-control skill was showcased most when he led cycling plays in deep. Now working with top-six wingers, his point production has increased, his game shifting more to give-and-go than basic cycling down low.
“Charlie’s blessed with size and strength and great skating ability and edge work,” Montgomery said. “That goes hand in hand. But also, there’s a willingness. You’ve got to be willing to hang on to pucks, and it’s not easy. You’re going to take more slashes. You’re going to take more hits.”
Also, with age and time on the job, experience should lead to results. Young players upon entering the league, noted Montgomery, are accustomed to picking up points off the rush into the offensive zone. They have grown up in leagues, beginning in their pre-teen years, in which defensive resistance in no way mirrors what they encounter in the NHL.
In today’s game, there is no breezing into the offensive zone and gaining easy access to the net. Nearly every rush is buffeted by strong headwinds.
“The longer you go in the league, the longer you hang on to pucks, because you realize it generates more offense,” Montgomery said. “And you don’t have to backcheck when you hang onto pucks.”
Other than Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Colorado’s Nathan MaKinnon, added Montgomery, few players possess the combination of speed and stick skill to zip through NHL defenses, be the coverage man-to-man or the more typical layered design.
“You don’t see defensemen get embarrassed very much one on one,” he said.
Hurricanes blow into town
After a mediocre if not disappointing start, the Hurricanes, 7-2-1 in their last 10, have shimmied their way into the No. 3 spot in the Metropolitan Division . . . The game will be the Hub’s first look this season at Dmitry Orlov, the defenseman who left the Bruins as a free agent last summer for a two-year/$15.5 million deal with Carolina. He arrives in town with a meager 2-14–16 and minus-7 . . . Monday night’s 4-1 win over Winnipeg lifted the Bruins to No. 1 for points percentage (.728), No. 2 for points (67), and No. 3 for goal differential (plus41) . . . Following their stop Saturday night in Philadelphia, the Bruins won’t play again until the Flames visit TD Garden on Tuesday, Feb. 6, for the start of a sevengame homestand that ends with a Feb. 19 matinee visit by the Stars.