Bruins Cap Dads Trip with Win in Florida

SUNRISE, Fla. – Johnny Beecher might just have to keep his dad around for a while.

The rookie centerman scored in both games of the Bruins’ Dads Trip across Florida, including the eventual winning tally on Wednesday night in Boston’s 3-1 victory over the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena.

“I don’t know what’s going on out there,” Beecher said with a chuckle as he stood next to his father, Bill, following the game. “A little bit of uncharted territory but it’s exciting. Just trying to help the team win as much as I can. If that means contributing on the scoresheet, that’s a bonus. Great weekend for the guys. I thought it was a good team effort. Great win.”

Beecher’s tally came just 41 seconds after Florida tied the game on Anton Lundell’s tip in front. The play began with an outlet pass from Jakub Lauko in the B’s end to Kevin Shattenkirk, who then threaded a seam with a nifty feed to Patrick Brown through the neutral zone.

Brown broke in all alone and missed with his initial attempt before tapping a loose puck out to Beecher in the slot. Beecher stayed patient and waited out Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky as he sneaked one around the netminder and banked it in off a diving Oliver Ekman-Larsson to put Boston up, 2-1, with 8:46 left in the second.

“Great play,” said Bruins coach Jim Montgomery. “Shattenkirk makes a great pass and that’s the offensive transition we want. We want our wings to push out through the middle. It was a great play by him getting it. I loved where Lauko and Beecher went. They went right to the net front. Great poise by Beecher on the goal.”

It marked Beecher’s second straight game with goal after his marker in Tampa on Monday night.

“Brownie stayed on top of it and put it out in front,” said Beecher. “I thought Lauks was gonna take it for a second. Just ended up taking the D with him and it kind of freed me up. Just tried to wait him out as long as I could. High quality goaltender, happy to get one past him.”

Beecher also had a strong night at the faceoff dot as he won 78 percent of his draws (7 of 9) – and at one point had won his first seven.

“[Until the last two], he hadn’t lost a face-off,” said Montgomery. “He’s just doing a good job. He’s digging in and he’s getting rewarded with more ice time.”

With 18 games now under his belt, the 22-year-old is becoming more and more comfortable in his role, which continues to grow.

“Gaining more confidence as the year goes on,” said Beecher. “The guys have been unbelievable with me just helping me learn. It’s a long season. There’s gonna be ups and downs. We’re having a ton of success so can’t really beat that.”

And hard to beat a win – and two goals – for Dad.

“Our dads came all the way down here, we wanted to at least get them one win,” said Beecher. “Getting three points on the road is a pretty solid [week] playing these two opponents. Just happy we could come up with a win for these guys. It was kind of the icing on the cake for the trip.”

DeBrusk Gets It Done

Jake DeBrusk knows one thing for sure: he’s never surpassing his father in one particular category.

“I’ll never catch him in penalty minutes,” DeBrusk quipped. “We always joke about that.”

“That’s the only thing I’ll ever have on you,” Lou, who racked up 1,161 career PIMs, responded. “You’ve got everything else.”

The winger did, however, move past Lou – a former NHL enforcer, who spent 11 seasons in the league with Edmonton, Tampa, Phoenix, and Chicago – in the games category on Wednesday night as he suited up for his 402^nd career contest, one more than his dad who was in the stands to witness it.

“It was pretty surreal,” said Jake. “He actually brought it up when he first came for the Dads Trip. I didn’t even know. It’s something you think about as a kid…I always looked up to him and just wanted to be like my dad. It was kind of cool to follow in his footsteps and now surpass him hopefully for a couple more games here. It’s one of those things that it’s a big picture moment. Something in the family that I have bragging rights for.”

DeBrusk also got his father a goal as he extended the Bruins’ lead to 3-1 with his second of the year just 3:05 after Beecher’s tally. Matt Poitras started things when he chipped the puck into the corner where DeBrusk then corralled it after winning a battle with help from his centerman.

After his first shot was denied by Bobrovsky, DeBrusk followed his rebound and jammed home his second attempt.

“It was just a good battle by Potsy,” said DeBrusk, whose celebration was clearly one of relief after having gone seven games without a goal. “I think we 2-on-1’d it, chip and chase. I just looked at the puck and it was there and nobody was in front. I just tried to jam it in. It was really nice to see that one go in. It was a nice feeling and a good time for us to score.”

Montgomery said he was pleased with DeBrusk’s game on Monday night in Tampa, too.

“I thought the last two games he’s played really well,” said Montgomery. “I thought today, it was good to see him stick with it. You know it’s wearing on him. To get a big goal like that to put us up by two is the nice cushion we needed going into the third.”

Despite his offensive struggles, DeBrusk said “it’s been fun to be around the rink” as the Bruins carry a 14-1-3 record into Thanksgiving.

“We’ve only lost one in regulation so anytime that you play this amount of games and have that means that we’re doing something right,” said DeBrusk. “There’s a lot of guys that are contributing in different ways. Need that to win. And our goaltending’s been really solid as well, bailed us out in a lot of games.

“Definitely room for improvement on different sides of things…it was nice to have the dads trip here and get some laughs from [dad] .”

A Game with The Goat

The Bruins dads had quite the special guest waiting for them when they arrived at their suite before the game on Wednesday. As they entered, the one and only Bobby Orr was there to greet them.

“It was an awesome surprise. It was really incredible,” said Louie DeBrusk. “We walked in and we were all like little kids again. He stayed with us for pretty much the whole game and chatted with everybody. He’s great, he’s awesome that way. Love chatting and talking hockey. He was on different in the box. It was awesome that he was in there.”

Orr, who was fresh off his trip to Boston for the team’s Big Bad Bruins Centennial celebration last weekend, spent the game with the fathers and took pictures with each of them.

“What a surprise,” said Bill Beecher. “That was a nice treat to have the opportunity to be with him and talk a little bit. That was special.”

Wait There’s More

• Montgomery believed the Panthers were targeting Charlie McAvoy throughout the night after the blue liner was suspended for a high hit on OIiver Ekman-Larsson in the teams’ first meeting in October. McAvoy took an elbow to face in the first period that went uncalled. “They targeted him,” said Montgomery. “I thought that was a high hit, the first hit of the game. You understand, it’s part of the code of the NHL that after the hit that Charlie had, there’s gonna be some retribution. You understand that. U thought Charlie handled it really well.”
• Linus Ullmark made 27 saves, none finer than his sprawling pad stop on Kevin Stenlund in the second period just before DeBrusk’s insurance marker gave Boston a 3-1 lead. “Sometimes you just battle,” he said. “There’s no thought process behind it. You just try to get something in there. Sometimes you try to make it as easy as possible on yourself with the momentum going right and then having to go left again, it was just about getting something in the way.”
• Montgomery had said in Tampa that Jeremy Swayman made the start against the Lightning – marking the first consecutive starts by a B’s goalie this season – because Ullmark needed some maintenance, though the netminder said he was feeling fine on Wednesday night. “It’s a long season,” said Ullmark. “There’s gonna be bumps and bruises throughout the way. It’s all about being smart. I learned a lot throughout my years now of what level I need to be at to perform. Know that Sway is always ready if there’s gonna be any bigger issues but right now there’s no issues that way. I felt great out there.”
• Charlie Coyle kicked off the scoring with slick backhand finish with 1:25 left in the first period. The pivot is up to seven goals and 16 points on the season. For the month of November, Coyle has registered 6-4—10 in nine games – which ranks as the most goals among the Bruins and second-most points behind David Pastrnak (4-11—15).