DeBrusk's Two-Goal Night Propels Bruins in Overtime

SEATTLE - Bruce Cassidy got the exact answer he was looking for earlier this week.
Boston's bench boss pulled Jake DeBrusk aside for a chat before the Bruins took the ice for practice at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday morning and asked the young winger for his thoughts on playing alongside Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.

With Marchand returning from suspension, the Black & Gold's lines were in need of some shuffling, creating an open spot on Boston's top line and the perfect opportunity for DeBrusk, who for much of the past two seasons has been searching for some traction in his game.
"I'll be up front and honest, he actually said it: these are two Hall of Fame guys. I said exactly," Cassidy recalled. "They have a standard they want to play to every night. I guess the crux of the conversation was, 'Are you willing to put yourself in the position where the standard is every night…to go against top pair defensemen and good lines and be able to play a 200-foot game?'"
For DeBrusk, the answer was, unequivocally, yes.
"That's what I want," said Cassidy. "That's what you want to hear."
And Cassidy saw what he wanted to see on Thursday night, too, as DeBrusk came through with two goals, including the overtime winner, to propel the Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken in their inaugural visit to Climate Pledge Arena.
"It's a great honor to play with two Hall of Famers," said DeBrusk. "Just wanted to try to get on pucks and try to win some races on the forecheck, take away the goalie's eyes, simplify my game, and I think I've gotten some puck luck the last little bit. It's been trending in the right direction, so I was really excited for sure."

Despite having tried DeBrusk in the same spot at times in years past without any sustained success, Cassidy felt that with the 25-year-old now a bit further along in his career, it was a good time to give it another shot.
"I said, 'Listen, Jake, we did this a few years ago, didn't work out as well as we'd like. But you're two years farther along in your career,'" said Cassidy. "And he was very open to it and wanted it. And as a coach, that's all you want to hear. Listen, we'll see how it plays out. So far so good, but you want a guy that wants to be in that position and he's more prepared to do it than maybe he was two years ago or maybe [an Oskar] Steen was going up as a younger guy [earlier this season]."
DeBrusk admitted he was a bit surprised when Cassidy came to him with the proposal, but was eager to jump at the chance, citing his previous experience playing alongside the likes of David Krejci and Rick Nash, as well as his years of practice and power-play time with Marchand and Bergeron, as having helped prepare him for another look in a role alongside some of the game's elite players.
"It makes sense almost in a way that I would get possibly a look there. It's not like I wasn't necessarily ready for it," said DeBrusk, who pointed to his speed as the most important factor in him succeeding alongside Boston's top two players. "But we had a talk about it and just kind of picked each other's brains. Obviously, I played the right side last year and there was mixed results there. It was more so that element.
"I'm still 25, but when you're a young guy and you play with players like that, you want to force feed them the puck because you have so much respect, right?"
Ironically, both of DeBrusk's goals against the Kraken came without Marchand and Bergeron on the ice. The 25-year-old's first tally of the night, which tied the game at 1 with 2:27 left in the first period, came with Erik Haula and Craig Smith. And the second, which ended things just 33 seconds into the extra session, came with Charlie Coyle and Charlie McAvoy.
Nevertheless, it was a strong showing for DeBrusk in his new role, which also saw him land four shots on goal and three hits across 18:46 of ice time.
"He had his legs tonight. He was hard on pucks," said Cassidy. "Obviously attacked well on the overtime goal, good to go down the forward side, recognition…I think they were a good line for us, they just didn't get on the scoresheet but generated a lot. When Jake's skating, I don't think it matters what wing he's on to be honest with you.
"Earned his minutes. Really nice job for us. Really good job. That's what Jake can do. He can score goals."

And that's exactly what DeBrusk has done of late with four tallies across a three-game goal streak that began Saturday night in Ottawa and continued Monday afternoon against Colorado. But even before this most recent scoring stretch, DeBrusk was playing a more consistent brand of hockey through January, which the Edmonton native attributes to some time away with his family during the extended Christmas break.
"I think it was just mentality. It was probably since the All-Star Break or Christmas break, maybe, went to go home and see my family, and I think ever since then, things have been mediating to what I like out of my game," said DeBrusk. "It's hard to judge every game - but as of late, I think it's just more so I'm finishing. It's one of those things where you can have a Grade-A and you put it in the perfect spot and sometimes it doesn't go in. Other times, guy tries to clear it out of the front of his net and it lands on the goal line. It's a game of inches. I've been happy to contribute for the team."
DeBrusk acknowledged that he's had plenty of "puck luck" on his side during the scoring streak, which, he noted, is usually a sign that his game is in a good place.
"I haven't felt that in a while," DeBrusk said of being on a hot streak. "Every game is different. Obviously, I got lucky on the first one [in Seattle] and the second one was a sharp angle. That's usually the things that start to happen from what I remember. It's kind of nice to remember those.
"It's one of those things when that goes away, it hurts. I think that that's where these habits of things that have always been preached to me here come into play…speed is the first thing and then compete."
DeBrusk, admittedly, has not had the easiest of times in the midst of the pandemic. After strong rookie (career-high 43 points) and sophomore (career-high 27 goals) campaigns, his game began to dip a bit during the 2019-20 season, which was eventually cut short by COVID-19. And last year during the pandemic-shortened 56-game schedule, DeBrusk notched just five goals and 14 points as he struggled to adapt to the challenges that came along with the NHL's health and safety protocols.
The trials continued earlier this season and led to him being a healthy scratch in November. Shortly thereafter, reports surfaced that DeBrusk had requested a trade, which Bruins general manager Don Sweeney later confirmed to reporters.
"It's on the track, it's on the right way," said DeBrusk. "Any time the puck goes in the net it feels the same. I wouldn't look too far into that. I've tried to forget about everything, even the good first two years technically and the last two years. I'm starting to gain some traction for the first time in a while. That's something that every player wants.
"It takes some puck luck, takes some good passes, lots of different things to kind of happen. But I've always wanted to help this team, to be able to contribute that way the best I can."

DeBrusk, speaking to the media for the first time since his trade request became public some three months ago, respectfully declined to provide any details as to why he opted to make the request or if he'd since changed his mind.
"To be honest, I had a meeting with the guys I think when it first kind of hit or first got out there and I told them I wouldn't be a distraction, so I respectfully plead the fifth on all of those," said DeBrusk. "I just want to talk about the game and stuff…I haven't talked to you guys in a while, it's a fair question but I won't be answering that…it's one of those things where it's a tough situation but I'm focusing day to day like I said earlier in the year."
DeBrusk did, however, thank his teammates for their support throughout what has been a difficult process.
"It means respect. It means that they think I'm a good guy and a good teammate. That's all you really want to be at the end of the day," said DeBrusk. "You play in that room for all of those guys. Obviously, lots of memories…playoff runs - and I've grown up in this organization. That's kind of another thing I said to them too was I'll try to keep that the same.
"Obviously, there's gonna be down days or up days but to hear them say that is obviously really nice. It kind of just amplifies how close we are as a group. I've always said how close of a group we have. I've been very blessed with that."