The Boston Bruins have already made it clear that Jake DeBrusk isn’t going to be traded for less than market value.
And that market value continued to tick upwards Thursday night, with DeBrusk scoring his second goal in four games, and against his hometown club in the Black and Gold’s 3-2 victory over the Oilers.
Hometown kid scores a hometown goal.
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 10, 2021
Jake DeBrusk extends the @NHLBruins lead to ✌️. pic.twitter.com/X9jP0zJ24T
The 25-year-old’s strike was another power-play strike, and featured another flash of the shot No. 74 can bring to the man advantage when given time and space in the high-danger areas of the ice. The goal was even analyzed by Jake’s father, Louie DeBrusk, on the Sportsnet broadcast, with his father outright admitting that it’s been a “tough tread” for his son.
And like we wrote last week when DeBrusk first found the back of the net in his post-trade request Boston run, this will only help. Especially with this being a sign of him bringing that consistency that has to be there if the Bruins are going to get the best return possible and if team are going to rush to acquire the No. 14 overall pick from the 2015 NHL Draft.
Another encouraging sign: The Bruins were able to rely on DeBrusk on a night where the Bruins benched second-line left wing Taylor Hall in the second frame and iced fourth-line left wing Anton Blidh for a team-low 7:16 of five-on-five action.
And he nearly made it a Boston win long before Matt Grzelcyk’s game winner with a net-front drive that was a Markus Niemelainen lunge away from finding the back of the net for what would’ve been DeBrusk’s second goal of the evening.
“I thought [DeBrusk] was good tonight,” Bruins assistant coach Joe Sacco said. “I liked the way he was skating. I thought that he put some speed, him and [Erik] Haula on that line with Nicky [Foligno]. Jake was good. Anytime one of your players score, you’re happy for them. But there’s other things that you’re looking for in their game and his details were better.”
The details are the key. DeBrusk’s first night back on the ice after his request (a loss to the Red Wings) may have been his worst effort of the season. It just looked like he was out there moving at half-speed. But that’s gotten better in recent games, with his effort against Tampa last Saturday and last night against the Oilers sticking out as positives on the effort front.
Which is all the Bruins want until a resolution comes with a trade out of Boston.
“The message to Jake [after his trade request] was just, ‘Go out and play hockey. You’re here, you’re part of our team, you’re part of our organization, and we expect you to go out there and give us your best every night [and] every game,’” Sacco relayed. “That’s all you can ask. He’s being a good pro; practice hard, play hard when it’s your turn to get on the ice. He’s done that.”
Here are some other leftover thoughts and notes from a 3-2 win in Edmonton…
EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 09: Brad Marchand #63 and Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins celebrate a goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period at Rogers Place on December 9, 2021. (Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)
Brad Marchand: King of the SHG
If you can, go back and watch Brad Marchand’s game-opening shorthanded goal on Thursday night.
I love it because you can actually see the moment Tyson Barrie realizes what’s about to happen. He’s basically seeing into the future. He knows that Marchand is about to torch the Oilers’ Stuart Skinner for a shorthanded tally. After all, Marchand is the Shortie King. And the numbers don’t lie when it comes to No. 63’s down-a-man resume.
On the board with his first shorthanded tally of the season, Marchand now sits at 32 career shorthanded goals. That’s long been enough to put him atop the B’s all-time ranks on that front, but it’s now tied with Peter Bondra, Bobby Clarke, Dave Keon, and Joe Sakic for the 16th-most in NHL history.
Focusing on a more recent sample, Marchand’s 13 shorthanded goals since the start of the 2016-17 season are tied with Cam Atkinson for the most in the NHL, and the Marchand-Bergeron shorthanded duo has actually been as or more effective than some franchises over that same span of play.
Shorthanded goals (since 16-17)
— Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) December 10, 2021
Detroit Red Wings: 23
Los Angeles Kings: 23
Bergeron-Marchand: 23
Chicago Blackhawks: 22Just a downright sick tandem.
Dec 9, 2021; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Boston Bruins forward Taylor Hall (71) cross checks Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman (18) during the third period at Rogers Place. (Perry Nelson/USA TODAY Sports)
Taylor Hall’s strange night
Taylor Hall finished Thursday’s game with 11:37 time on ice.
Looking through his career log, that was the ninth-lowest nightly total of his career and lowest since he logged a season-low 11:26 against the Sens last month. These are effectively the lowest time on ice nights of his career, with the other career lows coming as a result of in-game injuries.
Hall was also benched for essentially the final half of the second period on Thursday night.
Sacco didn’t necessarily get into the specifics behind that (not like Bruce Cassidy would, anyway), but did seem happy with Hall’s third-period response, and rightfully so. Hall’s backcheck denied what could’ve been a great scoring chance for the on-fire Leon Draisaitl, and then helped provide the screen on Grzelcyk’s game-winning goal.
Let’s see if that third-period fire comes to play with the Bruins playing in Hall’s hometown of Calgary on Saturday.
TORONTO, ON – JANUARY 12: John Moore #27 of the Boston Bruins warms up prior to action against the Toronto Maple Leafs in an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on January 12, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
John Moore returns to NHL action for Bruins
Waived down to Providence at the end of training camp and in action for just one NHL game this season prior to Thursday night, John Moore stepped right into the mix for a Boston squad without Brandon Carlo available and more than did his job for a Black and Gold squad that desperately needed it.
Deployed for 17:31 (third-most on the defense behind Charlie McAvoy and Derek Forbort), Moore finished the night with a plus-1 rating and Moore’s on-ice shot-for percentage (64.71) at five-on-five was tops among all B’s skaters.
“Kept his game simple and he was effective,” Sacco offered. “The play of Johnny was more important, how he played, how he responded after being away from the team for a while.”
The Bruins will probably need more of that with Jakub Zboril out indefinitely and Carlo considered day-to-day.
