The 30-year-old defenseman scored his second goal of the season in Thursday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, and he has points in five of the last seven games.
The 30-year-old defenseman scored his second goal of the season in Thursday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, and he has points in five of the last seven games.
With defensemen Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort out of the lineup due to injury, the Boston Bruins have had to rely on Mason Lohrei and Parker Wotherspoon – who have 50 games of NHL experience combined – to fill in on the back end.
Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm are the leaders of the defensive corps, but another blue liner has stepped up, almost unexpectedly, at the perfect time. Matt Grzelcyk started the season with just one point in 20 games, but he broke a 19-game goalless streak in Thursday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and has scored five points in the last seven games.
Trailing 1-0 after Jack Eichel’s power-play goal, the Bruins responded when Trent Frederic closed off a Vegas clearance attempt and found Grzelcyk streaking into the left point all alone, and the 30-year-old defenseman fired through traffic past goalie Logan Thompson to tie it 1-1 at 12:18.
The Bruins went on to lose their third straight game after regulation, but Grzelcyk’s recent offensive production is a welcome sign for a team that could use it from anywhere.
“It’s obviously a tough one to lose. I thought guys were competing but obviously [being] a little too undisciplined [has] kind of become a theme here, and we shot ourselves in the foot there,” Grzelcyk told reporters in Las Vegas after the game. “Forced [goalie Jeremy Swaywan] to make too many big saves. He was great tonight, but we got to find a way to capitalize on momentum there at the end.”
Grzelcyk has never been a major point producer, but he is on pace to finish with his lowest point total since his first full season in 2017-18 (15 points in 61 games). However, this recent uptick could be a sign of change. After all, he missed nearly all of November as well as some games in December with upper-body injuries and could finally be back at 100 percent.
Still, the Bruins’ recent issues require more than Grzelcyk improving his production. Eichel’s goal came on Vegas’ fifth power-play opportunity of the game after Danton Heinen was called for tripping at 6:29. Boston has allowed at least three power-play chances in each of the past five games, allowing a goal in all but one of those games.
As good as Boston’s penalty kill is – ranking third in the NHL at 85.3 percent – staying out of the box has to become a priority, and Grzelcyk acknowledged that on Thursday.
“I’m guilty of that as well over the past couple games,” Grzelcyk said. “When you’re playing with your feet, you’re getting in front of guys, you’re riding them out and boxing guys out in front of the net, not always playing on the end of your stick, so I think it starts there and just, you know, having like an aggressive mindset and just be mindful that time and score in the game. We can’t be taking too many penalties there in the third.”
For all that’s gone wrong for the Bruins over the last few games, Grzelcyk has been one of the few bright spots. He’ll look to continue his run on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues.
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