With David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron leading the Bruins offensive charge, it’s no surprise that David Krejci sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.
As Pastrnak leads the league with 20 goals, Marchand third in the league in points with 39 and Bergeron, well, being Bergeron, it’s easy to forget Krejci is coming off a season where he had a career high 53 assists and tied a career high in points with 73.
On Saturday, with things not going the Bruins way, they needed a hero. Hero, a role usually reserved for Pastrnak, Marchand or Bergeron.
But on this night, it was Krejci who stepped up and played hero for a Bruins team that nearly suffered its first home regulation loss of the season.
Before Krejci netted two goals in 48 seconds to tie the Minnesota Wild at four in the final two minutes of the third period Saturday, it was a frustrating 58 minutes for Krejci.
Krejci has spent just 15 seconds on the penalty kill this season. So as a guy who doesn’t kill penalties, the 11:56 the Bruins spent trying to kill Wild power plays left Krejci on the Bruins bench, frustrated that he couldn’t be on the ice helping his team earn two points.
“Definitely frustrated,… Krejci said of the time spent on the bench due to penalties. “When my line was up, it happened that we got penalties. That’s not fun, just sitting on the bench. All you can do is stay with it. Focus on the next shift. Try not to get those negative thoughts in your head. Just try to stay positive on the bench.…
Krejci’s efforts on the two third period goals emphasized the different ways Krejci can be a dangerous offensive weapon, and provide secondary scoring.
On the goal that cut the Wild lead to one, Krejci thwarted a clearing attempt just inside the o-zone, skated down to open ice, snuck his way to the far post and was in the right position for Bergeron to feed him with a pass that Krejci was easily able to score on an empty net.
“Six-on-five, get a puck to the net and crash the net, that’s what happened. JD [Jake DeBrusk] and Bergy [Bergeron] made some good plays there on the puck. I had an empty net,… said Krejci.
On the game-tying goal, Krejci took a page out of Pastrnak’s playbook. Setting up inside the left faceoff circle, Krejci ripped a one-timer past Wild goalie Alex Stalock. As a player who often admits he's pass first, Krejci was thinking shot the whole way.
“On the second goal, I received a good pass again and just tried to shoot it as hard as I could on the net and hope for a rebound or scrum, it worked this time.…
Two-goal deficits are never easy to erase, especially in the final minutes of regulation. When it comes to forcing overtime, there’s no secret to success. It’s pull the goalie and hope for the best.
Krejci brought his best.
“We’re not as mesmerized by the clock. It’s not like, at 2:30 you have to go, or two minutes. We’d like it around 1:45, two, whatever, if it’s a minute and a half,… said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “But we like all six guys to be fresh, if possible. So sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.…
Despite missing six games with an upper-body injury back in October, things have been working well for Krejci. Even with a revolving door of wingers on both wings, Krejci once again has been producing offensively.
In the 240:25 of the five-on-five ice time Krejci has seen this season, he’s played at least 20 minutes with eight different wingers.
As usual on Saturday, DeBrusk was lined up to Krejci’s left. But this time, a new look winger in Chris Wagner was to his right. A DeBrusk, Krejci and Wagner combination saw just 1:34 of five-on-five time before Brett Ritchie replaced Wagner on the second line.
“I started Wagner up on that line. I think he deserves to be rewarded sometimes because the stuff he does, doesn’t always show up on the score sheet,… added Cassidy. “But, that does take away from that fourth line so we move Ritchie up. Some of it was, he doesn’t kill and neither does Krejci and DeBrusk or Wagner, was used a lot in the kill early on so it just kind of evolved into that.…
It's unknown if Ritchie is the long term answer on Krejci’s wing, but for at least one night it worked.
“We got some o-zone time, he’s obviously strong, big,… Krejci said of Ritchie. “A couple of times I lost the faceoff and he was first on the puck and we got o-zone time.…
Whether he’s been centering DeBrusk and whoever gets a crack on the second line, or filling in for Bergeron on the top line, Krejci has been getting the job done.
Averaging 2 points per 60 minutes of five-on-five ice time, Krejci ranks fourth on the Bruins among skaters who have at least 100 minute of five-on-five ice time.
It’s not just offensively where Krejci is getting things done. Per usual, Krejci has been as reliable as a defensive forward as they come.
Krejci's—among skaters with at least 100 minutes of five-on-five ice time—.50 goals allowed/60 rate ranks second behind Par Lindholm who is a tick better at .49 goals allowed per 60.