BRIGHTON, Mass. – Once David Pastrnak had snapped out of his postseason funk with a two-goal performance in Game 4, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy was already moving on to his next offensive project.
“Scorers, when they don’t score, can get antsy. I’m not sure [David Pastrnak] was there, but we want to keep them from going there,” Cassidy said following Game 4 on Wednesday night. “With the two goals, he gets recharged and we’re going to go through that with [Jake DeBrusk] now where we try to get him to where Pastrnak is right now.”
DeBrusk has just one assist and is a minus-2 through four games of the Bruins' Stanley Cup Playoffs first round series vs. Toronto, and has taken on more of a role as a Maple Leafs enemy after his multiple run-ins with Nazem Kadri in a physical Game 2 win.
That’s a far cry from last season, when his speed, tenacity and scoring ability resulted in five goals in the first round series against the Maple Leafs, and when he stepped up as the needed secondary scoring behind their big three of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak.
Perhaps getting embroiled in the shenanigans with Kadri sidetracked DeBrusk from his usual dogged, productive game, but that shouldn’t be the case now given the way things are setting up.
The B’s sure could use that again in the final three games of the Leafs series with things tied up at 2-2 apiece and Boston once again heavily reliant on their top three scorers to provide offense. With Pastrnak now dropped down to the second line with David Krejci and DeBrusk, the opportunities should be arriving with more frequency for a left winger that potted 27 goals during the regular season.
“It would be nice. [Scoring] would obviously be something that I’m looking to do,” said DeBrusk, who was a minus-2 with just one shot on net in Game 4. “In saying that, I think that this time of year is perfect, though, because it doesn’t matter who is scoring. That’s the beauty of it.
Boston Bruins
“I’d like to kind of find my game. I’ve had some 0’s and some 100’s in there, so I just need to find some consistency in general and do things that make my successful. Hopefully that leads to some goals, but as long as we win it doesn’t really matter to me.”
When DeBrusk scores goals, it helps the Bruins win in the playoffs, so there’s no doubt both the team and the player are looking for him to find his offense -- and roll out some more 100’s -- in the final few games of this first round series vs. the Leafs.
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