DeBrusk Addresses Saturday’s Scratch vs. Kings: ‘I Let the Guys Down’

Jake DeBrusk is an important piece to the Boston Bruins top six. The 27-year-old had a career year during the Bruins' historic 2022-23 campaign, despite missing nearly two months with hand and leg injuries, so when it was announced that he would sit out of Boston’s matchup with the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, that came as a surprise.

Turns out, it was not because of his on-ice performance, or even ‘load management’ purposes.

“Jake was late to a team meeting, that’s why he’s out of [the] lineup,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told reporters in Los Angeles ahead of Saturday’s game.

To say that wasn’t a good look, especially from a seven-year NHL veteran in a contract year, is an understatement. The Bruins went ahead without one of their important offensive pieces and took down the Kings 4-2, but questions remained about what would happen next with No. 74.

The next day in Anaheim, those questions were put to rest, with DeBrusk back in the lineup and both sides ready to move on from the mistake.

“Yesterday’s over with, worry about today,” Montgomery said about the message to DeBrusk before Sunday’s game. “Now he gets the chance here to come back and help us win hockey games.”

Montgomery also said DeBrusk handled the scratch on Saturday “like a pro,” and DeBrusk addressed what happened publicly, speaking to reporters after Sunday’s 3-1 win against the Ducks.

“We have a high standard on this team, and we have a higher standard than people give us credit for, and I broke a team rule, and I understand that there’s consequences with that and I own up to it completely,” DeBrusk said. “I let the guys down. … I felt it, and I just wanted to do anything I could to help the team out today, in any way.”

That help came almost immediately upon his return in Sunday’s game.

The Bruins faced an early penalty kill after Brad Marchand was called for cross-checking 29 seconds in, and after Anaheim’s power play unit coughed up a loose puck, DeBrusk used his speed to power down the ice on a short-handed breakaway on Ducks goaltender John Gibson.

He beat Gibson, but not the goal post, ringing his shot off the pipe at 1:10 and narrowly missing out on an early 1-0 lead.

“I rang the post pretty hard there,” DeBrusk said. “But I wanted to just find my game, just wanted to – like I said earlier – just help out anyway I could, and I had a pretty good chance there.”

After getting robbed by the post, neither team scored until 5:05 of the third period, when Ducks forward Mason McTavish gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead.

An offensive outburst from Matt Poitras tied the game for Boston, then gave them the lead with his first and second career goals, and DeBrusk notched an assist on the winning goal.

DeBrusk didn’t register an assist on the tying goal earlier in the game, but his work in the defensive zone sparked the rush up ice, where Poitras tied it 1-1 at 6:29 of the third.

“It was a great play all around,” Montgomery said. “JD [DeBrusk], he made a great play on the wall to ‘Mitchy’ [Ian Mitchell]. Mitchell sauced it over to Geekie, and what a pass by Geekie over to Poitras, who buried it.”

About four minutes later, after Poitras and Morgan Geekie won a puck battle in the corner and swung it to the top of the zone, Hampus Lindholm sent it across the ice to Charlie McAvoy, who centered it to DeBrusk. He skated in, and instead of dishing back to McAvoy on his right, he fired on net.

This time, Gibson stopped the shot, but he could not stop Poitras waiting on the doorstep for the rebound.

“Went up to the point, and I just read it, three-high, and I actually looked off Charlie [McAvoy], he was telling me after the game apparently he was open,” DeBrusk said.

“So suck it, Charlie, I made the right play,” he added with a chuckle. “No I’m just kidding, but I just tried to get through.”

DeBrusk’s line with Poitras and Geekie saved the evening. In addition to scoring the two goals to turn the tide of the game, they out-chanced the Ducks 11-1 at 5-on-5, while every other line conceded more scoring chances to Anaheim than they created, according to Natural Stat Trick.

With a strong night Sunday, and Saturday’s incident behind him, DeBrusk was clear about where his mind is at going forward.

“I’m proud to be a Bruin and proud of the standards we have here,” DeBrusk said. “It is what it is, I don’t have a rebuttal or anything on it, and that’s kind of all I’ll say on it, to be honest.

“We’re moving forward here, as a group.”