DeBrusk's Surprise Birthday Return Lifts Bruins

BOSTON - Jake DeBrusk wished all of his teammates good luck.
The winger, out since the season opener with an upper-body injury, was not expected to suit up for the B's Monday night matchup against the Florida Panthers.
But things changed after an optional morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena.

DeBrusk, who was celebrating his 26th birthday, felt strong after getting through the workout without any pain or soreness, a development that gave him, the trainers, and the coaching staff some optimism that he might be able to give it a go.
"Actually, right after I was done with the scrum with [the media], I went to watch what was going on in the morning skate," coach Jim Montgomery recalled. "[DeBrusk] was saying he was feeling good, so I asked him, 'Do you think you can go?' and he said he wanted to give it a try in warmups.
"He had no soreness after skating and shooting a lot of pucks this morning, so we got pretty optimistic. The miracle cream works and thank God because he was really good tonight."
That he was.
The birthday boy impressed with a stellar three-point (two goals, assist) effort to pace the Bruins to a 5-3 victory over the Panthers at TD Garden, giving Boston three straight wins to open up the new campaign.
"I felt good this morning. I was thinking possibly [Tuesday night in Ottawa for a return], then I got asked, 'why not tonight,'" said DeBrusk. "I was like, 'yeah, why not tonight?' I just kind of made a decision, 'Yeah, why not. Let's go. It's not gonna get worse.'
"And I got the green light. That's why I was here. I surprised pretty much all the boys. I told them all good luck and I knew I was coming."

DeBrusk was immense from the drop of the puck. On the game's opening shift, he deflected a Carter Verhaeghe feed with a strong stick through a passing lane and forced the puck out into the neutral zone. DeBrusk then whacked the puck away from Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling and chased it down just inside the Panthers' blue line, before firing a wrister blocker-side by goalie Sergei Bobrovsky just 21 seconds into the game for a 1-0 Bruins lead.
"I think [Patrice Bergeron] was wide open in the slot. I re-watched it, so I am happy it went in for that sense," DeBrusk said with a chuckle. "Just made the right decision. It was nice to contribute, obviously. That's the best way to help the team. But that early in the game kind of set the tone, and that's what we all want to do. I was lucky enough to get a lucky one there."
Even more impressive than his opening tally, however, may have been his helper on Bergeron's go-ahead goal with 7:25 remaining in the second period. After a bouncing puck trickled past Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad at the point off a Panthers face-off win, DeBrusk soared through the neutral zone, beating Ekblad and Forsling to the loose rubber.
DeBrusk corralled the puck in the right-wing faceoff circle before delivering a no-look backhand feed to Bergeron across the slot where the B's captain buried his second of the season - and 402nd of his career to tie Rick Middleton for third on Boston's all-time goals list - to put the Black & Gold ahead, 2-1.
"I was shocked by how smart of a player he is and his ability to make plays," Montgomery said of what he's learned about DeBrusk thus far. "I knew he could score goals and I knew he could skate, but I didn't know he could make as many plays as he does. I think his all-around game is continuing to develop. He was hard on pucks, he was hard on coming back to our end, and he's one of our best penalty killers."
Montgomery was also complimentary of DeBrusk's play on his empty-net, icing-on-the-cake marker with 1:03 remaining. DeBrusk intercepted yet another feed just outside of Boston's blue line and immediately spun and fired a shot toward the Florida net while taking a hit from Patric Hornqvist that knocked him to the ice. Nevertheless, the puck sailed into the open cage to extend Boston's lead to 5-3 and secure his second goal of the night.
"Even the play on the empty-net goal, a lot of people don't know how to protect that puck, spin around and find that lane," said Montgomery. "His hockey sense and how he sees the ice is well above the average hockey player in the NHL and it's something well above what I thought he processed. I thought he was a speed-scoring winger, but he's much more than that."

DeBrusk began to discover his all-around game midway through last season when he joined Boston's top line alongside Bergeron and Brad Marchand in late February. After a season-plus stretch of struggles, he began to breakthrough once again and has since been the Bruins' leading goal scorer. In 36 games since last Feb. 19, DeBrusk has 20 goals to pace Boston - two more than David Pastrnak.
"It's been different, and obviously it is with a new coach and just seeing the boys again and just feeling secure obviously after everything last year," said DeBrusk, who was signed to a two-year extension on trade deadline day last March. "I think that's one thing that helped me at the end of last year was that kind of feeling again.
"It just kind of went on throughout the summer and obviously got confidence back in my own game. Just trying to do anything I can to help get wins for this team. Obviously, the big guys out and things like that, we need everybody hands on deck, and I just want to be part of that."
DeBrusk also realizes the need for consistency, which he acknowledged has been a challenge at points throughout his six-year career. While he was pleased with his three-point showing against Florida, DeBrusk said that "it's time to put it all together" and learn from the "ups and downs" he's gone through in years past.
"It's one thing to do it for one game, but what do we got, 79 left? So, it's a challenge [Tuesday] against a good Ottawa team and just keep on rolling from there," he said. "You're not going to have three-point nights every night, two goals and an assist. I would love that - I think everybody would.
"But I think the speed aspect of my game has always been the thing that drives everything, whether it's generating chances - and you need some lucky bounces, you need some help and things like that, but I think that's kind of a good starting point to obviously start like that.
"It's one of those things that you kind of just try to build on. It's nice to have a good start and just kind of move from there."

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