Ryan Spooner has had a target on his back since he walked through the NHL’s doors.

Sometimes it’s been from the fans that he believe he’s too small to make an impact as an NHL center. Spooner is obviously built more like a Marc Savard than a Patrice Bergeron. Sometimes from his coach -- first Claude Julien, a coach that seemed to dislike and want to minimize Spooner as much as possible by the end of it, and now Bruce Cassidy -- who believe he’s too much of a defensive liability for certain situations (anything close to a late-game defensive-zone or lead-protecting situation).

But every time you seem ready to write the 25-year-old off, it seems that the mercurial forward comes through with a game that reminds you why he’s here in the first place.

Saturday’s 5-0 blowout win over the Senators was your latest example.

And with center David Krejci back in action for the first time since Dec. 16 (he’s missed the last six games with a back injury), it came with Spooner moved out of his natural center position and back on the right wing, too. At this point, Spooner moving to the wing seems as natural as his hip-shifting dekes through the neutral zone, sure, but that’s been to the left side.

This was just his fourth or fifth game on the right side.

It didn’t matter.

Spooner opened the game’s scoring with a first-period power-play goal, scored the B’s third goal on an unassisted block-and-go, and drew the penalty that led to a Krejci power-play goal that made it 4-0 and by all means buried the Sens through 40. It was an action-packed night that saw Spooner finish with a season-high six shots on goal (only one of his seven attempts failed to land on goal), along with 17:07 of time on ice, which ranks as his second-highest mark of the season.

And on top of everything there, Spooner remained true to his NHL paycheck, with a noticeable impact on the power play and on the ice for two of the B’s three goals on the man advantage.

It’s all in line with Spooner’s recent surge, which now boasts a stat line featuring two goals and seven points in seven games since returning from a lower-body ailment. The entirety of which has come somewhere on the club’s second line, be it as a left or right wing, or in the middle between an all-speed line with Jake DeBrusk and Anders Bjork. That kind of impact is obviously needed -- even with the club’s third line skating with their heads on fire and the all-world first line of Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak expected to dominate on a nightly basis -- especially when you’re talking about a line that’s missed its biggest weapon (Krejci) for large chunks of the season.

And why it’s never safe to scoff at the idea of the impact No. 51 can have for this team.

This and that

- David Krejci made his return to the lineup tonight, and the Bruins are now 12-6-1 in games with Krejci in the lineup. They’re 9-4-5 without him. More noticeably, their power play has gone 18-for-69 in games with Krejci, and just 8-for-54 in games with Krejci watching on TV. That’s a 26.1 power-play percentage (which would be the league’s best if it were their full-year mark) with Krejci, and a 14.8 power-play percentage without him. That latter number would be the third-worst in hockey.

- The Senators are straight-up terrible. Just a team of (talented) passengers playing a by all means invisible game. This team was a goal away from the Stanley Cup Finals a year ago? Woof. This is not the first time we’ve felt this way about a Guy Boucher club. Hm. Seems to be a trend.

- Also: We sure Matt Duchene plays for the Senators? I said it when it happened, but I honestly believe that passing on trading a whole bunch of assets for Duchene will turn out to be one of Bruins general manager Don Sweeney’s better non-moves. (It’ll be up there with not trading a first-round pick for Marco Scandella and not giving three years to Trevor Daley in free agency last summer.)

- Not a single member of the B’s high-powered first line of Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak finished the night in the top six among forward time on ice. You know what? Love it. This is a line that the Bruins are going to ride until the wheels fall off, and a 5-0 whopping of the Sens is not a night that requires you to roll them like you normally would. Zdeno Chara, meanwhile, finished the night third among Boston defenders in ice-time. Again, love it. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Up next

The Bruins return to Boston for a Monday morning practice at Warrior Ice Arena, and then head out to Brooklyn for a Tuesday night head-to-head with the Islanders. I wonder if we’re still going to complain about Mathew Barzal that night. Lord, I hope not. That revisionist nonsense is straight-up boring.

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