BOSTON – With some talk of the Bruins potentially upgrading the fourth line at the trade deadline, it’s a big week for the current group manning Boston’s energy trio. Perhaps with that in mind, Landon Ferraro had one of his best games in weeks while contributing heavily in a playoff-style 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden.
Ferraro scored a goal on a breakaway chance during Boston’s third period onslaught for his first score in 29 games, and also dropped the gloves with Scott Wilson just a couple of minutes into the second period. Both plays gave the Bruins an undeniable energy bounce during the game, and showed how valuable the speedy, scrappy Ferraro can be to the B’s lineup.
“Well, he just seemed more engaged in all areas, right? He got into a fight, he fore-checked hard and he used his speed,” said Claude Julien. “Like I said before, I think he scored about 27 goals last year in the American League, so he’s certainly a guy that can score. We can certainly use that on our fourth line.”
Ferraro has shown he can do that this season for the Bruins in short bursts, and showed off the hands and shot while easily beating Marc-Andre Fleury high to his glove hand once he had a clear lane on the third period breakaway.
It was Ferraro’s first goal since Dec. 9 against Montreal, so it was a long time coming for the 24-year-old.
“[The goal] was nice to see. It was a big relief,” said Ferraro, who now has four goals and eight points in 48 games this season. “It was big, you know, when [the fourth line] can take a bit of the load off the big guys’ shoulders, and we can actually stay in the rotation. [Have good] shifts and carry it in their end and hold it and try, and work it a bit. It just adds to it.
“I think that was a big part of our game tonight, was that every line bought into keeping pucks in and chipping pucks to the net. We didn’t turn over too many pucks trying to force it in. So it made the game a lot easier for us.”
All that’s left now is to see if snapping the scoreless streak opens some doors for Ferraro, and perhaps allows him to get into another productive streak for a Bruins team that’s going to need all hands on deck over the next two months.