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."