Two of the Boston Bruins' top six forwards are scoring at a rampant pace, which has boosted the entire team to the top of the NHL standings.

BOSTON – When the Boston Bruins lost 5-1 to the New York Islanders on March 2, it was one of the lowest points in the season. Not just for the team itself, but for two of its top forwards.

Jake DeBrusk and Pavel Zacha had been struggling mightily to produce. It marked the 11th consecutive game without a goal for Zacha, who had only three assists in that span. DeBrusk, meanwhile, had gone without a point in 14 of the past 15 games, with a two-point night against the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 21 the only exception.

Playing key top six roles, the two would need to start producing if the Bruins were to play at their best, but there was no end in sight for their freefall. Two weeks and seven games later, DeBrusk and Zacha are the two hottest forwards on the team.

DeBrusk had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 6-5 win against the Philadelphia Flyers to put him at four goals and five assists in the past seven games, during which he had a multi-point performance four times. However when asked after the game, DeBrusk wouldn’t say he’s on a hot streak.

“I feel like I’ve been playing pretty well,” DeBrusk said. “I feel like finally things are just going my way. … I think that there’s been lots of chances and posts and close plays this year, where I think that that’s kind of the biggest difference between my years previous and this one is I feel like I’ve been generating pretty consistently throughout.”

Zacha, on the other hand, had an assist on Saturday to extend his point streak to seven games. With five goals and five assists in that span, Zacha has the second-longest Bruins point streak this season behind Charlie Coyle (10 games).

That Islanders game on March 2 marked Boston’s eighth loss in its previous 11 games. In the seven games of Zacha and DeBrusk’s hot streaks, the Bruins are 5-1-1 and atop the NHL standings with 95 points. If it wasn’t already obvious, the Bruins will need the two forwards at their best – behind the leading scorers David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand – to hit the ground running in the postseason.

“You gotta have depth to your scoring, and it’s nice to see those guys playing with confidence offensively,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said after Saturday’s win.

The dominance has expanded beyond the scoresheet. During Zacha’s seven-game point streak, he's posted a face-off win percentage below 50 just once. He won 81.8 percent of his face-offs on Saturday (9-for-11), which is a season-high in games he took at least 10 draws.

And it's trickling down the lineup. Johnny Beecher has strung together two strong performances since his recall from AHL Providence, scoring a goal on Saturday and winning 13-of-19 (68.4%) of his face-offs across both games. Additionally, Coyle’s two goals broke an eight-game drought. 

The Bruins once again struggled to hold a third-period lead, but a handful of key forwards are rounding into form at a crucial time.

“You can’t get too high or too low,” Coyle said. “No matter what happens, no matter what the crowd is doing, it’s a lot of emotions when you get to that stage, so it’s just about weathering that and making sure we’re playing our game.”

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