Jakub Lauko had no time to worry.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery tabbed his fourth line of Lauko, Nick Foligno, and Tomas Nosek for the start in Wednesday's season opener, leaving the 22-year-old little time to think - which turned out to be for the best.
"When Monty said I was gonna go, I was like, 'OK this is gonna be interesting," Lauko, who finished with three hits in 11:36 of ice time, said with a smile. "But I was actually happy because I didn't have any time to be nervous, just jumped right into it and didn't have to wait two, three, four minutes on the bench and waiting, shaking…is this the moment, is this it? Just jumped right into it. I think we had a pretty nice shift to start."
Lauko and his linemates set the tone off the opening draw and continued the momentum into the third period when the Czech native drew two penalties. His speed and tenacity, the exact attributes that impressed Montgomery during camp, paid off.
"That's why we want him in the lineup, his ability to draw penalties with his speed, take pucks to hard areas," said Montgomery. "I thought that fourth line got us going right away on that first shift of the game. They went right to the goal line and got to work."
Lauko's parents flew in from Czechia for their son's debut, making it to Capital One Arena just minutes before puck drop after immigration issues kept them at the airport for several hours.
"It was a rush. I'm really, really happy [they made it]," said Lauko, who was able to spend a few minutes with his family after the win. "I feel like if I'm gonna build on this game, it's gonna be better and better. For me, I trust my abilities and my upside. I just need to adjust for the pace of the game for the guys that are playing.
"Last two years, I haven't PK'd much and now I'm PKing against [Alex Ovechkin] or [Evgeni] Kuznetsov so it's a big step up. I think I was pretty decent."