Phil Stacey column: Bruins' Derusk hopes season opening game-winner a sign of things to come

Oct. 17—BOSTON — Go hard to the net. Put shots on net whenever possible. Don't wait for breaks to come; create your own.

Jake DeBrusk, the 25-year-old left winger starting his fifth National Hockey League season with the Boston Bruins, has a lot to prove after potting just five goals and nine assists in 41 games a year ago. He was a healthy scratch both in the regular season and during the playoffs, and many Bruins fans had him ticketed on the next bus out of South Station to any other outpost in the league.

Looking to revert back to the form that made him a 27-goal scorer as a second-year pro, DeBrusk went hard to the net, put pucks on net and created his own breaks during Saturday night's season opener at TD Garden against the Dallas Stars. And if one game can give us a window into what a particular skater's season might transpire into, it could very well be the bounceback campaign that both the player and the organization are hoping for.

None of the 17,850 (somewhat) masked up fans in attendance were any happier than DeBrusk after the happy-go-lucky winner potted the go-ahead goal early in the third period of Boston's 3-1 victory.

After beating Stars goalie Braden Holtby with a quick wrister out front — where he's admittedly collected most of the goals in his career — DeBrusk went down to one knee and emphatically pumped his left arm as he glided into the far circle, soaking in the adulation of his teammates and fan base.

"I was just trying to find open space and push the pace," said DeBrusk. "It was kind of a funky play. I lifted a guy's stick down low and tried to get to the scoring area ... I think Nick also being there caused some confusion."

Playing on a possession line with two new Bruins, veterans Erik Haula in the middle and burly Nick Foligno on the right side, DeBrusk wants to use his strengths — above average speed coming out of the neutral zone, driving wide towards the net and then attacking — to generate more scoring chances than he was able to a season ago. It was something he consciously did during the preseason and continued it once the games began for real this weekend.

On the game-winning sequence, Haula won a puck battle along the right wall and got it over to Foligno. As Foligno cut towards the net, DeBrusk came out front behind the cage to Holtby's left and did the same. The puck seemed to roll off Foligno's blade, but DeBrusk pounced ... and produced.

"It was simply playing behind their D, winning a footrace (to the puck), creating a second effort play to create a turnover, and it ends up on his stick in the slot," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of DeBrusk's tally. "What we're trying to preach is you'll get rewarded a lot if you're able to make some of those plays."

Cassidy acknowledged that part of Boston's game plan was to push the pace and play behind Dallas' defensemen, a unit that was playing without their top rearguard, John Klingberg, in an attempt to create some confusion. DeBrusk-Haula-Foligno adhered to those marching orders.

"That line," said the coach, "will be hard to play against if they attack like that."

DeBrusk certainly wasn't the only Black and Gold notable on Opening Night. Rookie netminder Jeremy Swayman was every bit as steady as he's always projected to be, stopping 26 of 27 shots. The Bruins' new 8-year, $76 million dollar franchise defenseman, 23-year-old Charlie McAvoy, did what he's getting paid for almost the next decade to do: playing over 24 minutes, getting five shots off, manning the point on the top power play unit, blocking a shot, and meshing nicely with new partner Derek Forbort.

Brad Marchand also did Brad Marchand things (the good kind); he scored two goals, including a penalty shot after his stick was held while on a breakaway by Stars defenseman Ryan Suter. Calmly approaching the puck at center ice, Marchand bore in on net and snapped a wrist shot past Holtby for Boston's first such goal in a season opener since Chris Kelly did so eight years ago against Tampa Bay.

"It's nice when those ones work out," said Marchand with a smirk postgame. The game's First Star also put home an empty netter with 97 seconds to play, which sealed the two points for the guys who call 100 Legends Way home.

Boston's penalty killing was another plus holding the Stars off the board in all five of their attempts while using physicality and smart stickwork to keep them out of high danger areas while giving Swayman plenty of time to see any pucks coming his way.

All in all, a good night for the locals in the first of their 82-game regular season journey.

So while some of Boston's sports attention was certainly held elsewhere this weekend — the Red Sox tying up the ALCS in Houston, the Patriots playing Dallas late Sunday afternoon, high school and college football, college hockey, the Revolution, etc. — the Bruins got off to the start they wanted.

Let's hope the same holds true for DeBrusk as the 2021-22 campaign unfolds.

###

Phil Stacey, the Executive Sports Editor of The Salem News, covers the Boston Bruins for CNHI Sports Boston. Contact him at pstacey@salemnews.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilStacey_SN

Contact Phil Stacey

@PhilStacey_SN