BOSTON – It hasn’t always been easy for Joe Morrow this season in Boston.
He’s got job security at the NHL level this season given that the Bruins would risk losing him for nothing by sending him on waivers to the AHL. But that was little consolation to the 23-year-old defenseman when he was a regular healthy scratch in the first half of the season.
Morrow sat for an entire month and 12 consecutive games in November and December, and never played more than five games in a row until his most recent stretch in the Boston lineup. Now Morrow is back in while being paired with Dennis Seidenberg, and is in line to play his seventh straight game for the Black and Gold on Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins team that drafted him 23rd overall in the first round back in 2011.
Morrow even has a pair of assists in each of the last two games, and that’s doubled his offensive output all the way up to a goal and seven points in 24 games this season. That means his confidence is at an all-time high for this season when he’s on the ice right now for the B’s.
“It was something I’d never really had to deal with previously, you know? Being the guy on the bubble, and you really didn’t know if you’d be playing, or not playing. It gets pretty draining and exhausting if you allow yourself to think about it too much,” said Morrow. “It was tough, but once you get into the games and you get a little confidence…you kind of forget what that felt like. You just move forward, and focus on what you can do to get better.
“I feel like I’ve done that this season. The past few months I’ve realized that my opportunity may not last as long as I think it will, or that I want it to. So I have to utilize every chance that I get to play. Every game I need to bring something to the table where when I’m undressing after the game I can say, ‘I really made a difference there.’ Previously this season, I think I was just okay with being in the lineup.”
That’s a step in the right direction maturity-wise for a young D-man, and the uptick in offensive production is something the Bruins would like to see out of a talented guy that can clearly skate, pass and shoot the puck like a first round pick. Zach Trotman, Colin Miller and Morrow have now all had their extended looks in the lineup for the Black and Gold, and Morrow now just have to prove to his coaches that he can keep it going.
“Nothing’s changed with him when he skates, and moves the puck. He’s a good defenseman. I think he’s got, you know again, he’s got the ability to skate the puck out, to carry the puck, and even move the puck when you put him on the power play. He’s done a decent job there as well,” said Claude Julien. “With him it’s always been, you know, keep the consistency in his game. If we could ever get close to the same thing from him on a daily basis or on a game-to-game basis then that would help his game tremendously.”
That consistency is exactly what Morrow is striving for during arguably his best NHL stretch with the Bruins, and he’ll be looking to keep it going for a Bruins team entering their most challenging portion of the season.