Jake DeBrusk started the year on the second line. He had recently been dropped to the fourth line.
On Saturday, DeBrusk tumbled out of the lineup entirely for the first time this season. The reason: sluggish skating.
“Lately, he’s lost a bit of his energy in his legs,’’ coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He’s not going to be an effective player if he doesn’t have his legs. If he has his legs, he is a very effective player. Might not always score, but he’s on pucks. He creates anxiety for their D’s. I thought the last couple games, he lost a bit of that. I don’t know if it’s just that time of year. A little tutelage upstairs might do him good. Sometimes it helps players. Other times, it sets them back. We’ll find out.’’
Cassidy replaced DeBrusk with Frank Vatrano. The East Longmeadow native was a healthy scratch on Friday against Toronto.
Vatrano responded with one of his stronger games in the 4-1 loss to the Leafs. He tipped Torey Krug’s shot past Curtis McElhinney at 15:18 of the first. He was credited with two blocked shots and three hits. Vatrano, skating with Jordan Szwarz and Danton Heinen, played with energy in all three zones.
“He finished some checks. He blocked some shots,’’ Cassidy said. “We want a 200-foot game. If that’s what it entails from night to night, all those details, then that’s what we need out of him. He was definitely a positive.’’
Difficult situation
There are times when holding your ground, chipping pucks out, and even icing the puck are acceptable options. Such instances are included in situational hockey, where the time and score can dictate style of play, even if it runs counter to a team’s preferred approach.
The Bruins have not excelled in situational hockey.
Of the 46 goals the Bruins have allowed, 11 have taken place with 90 seconds or less remaining in a period. It happened twice in Toronto on Friday. At 19:44 of the second period, James van Riemsdyk tied the score at 1-1 with a power-play goal.
In the third, with one minute remaining in regulation, the former University of New Hampshire winger plucked a win from the Bruins’ pockets by tying the game again. With Nazem Kadri also being available in the slot, Brandon Carlo closed on the Toronto center, giving van Riemsdyk room at the far post.
Patrick Marleau gave the Maple Leafs the extra point in overtime.
“We obviously didn’t get it done in the third period there,’’ said Nash, on the ice for van Riemsdyk’s third-period goal along with Tim Schaller and Noel Acciari. “They made a good play on it. [Mitch] Marner made a nice little sauce pass through a couple sticks and it goes back door. That’s one of those situations where we’ve just got to figure out a way to get it done and get the 2 points. It ends up kind of energizing them and they end up getting the 2. We salvage 1. Still, at the end of the day, we’ve got to get it done there. You learn from it and remember that feeling of what you were doing on the ice and what the situation was kind of like. Just grow from it.’’
The Bruins’ worst example of poorly played situational hockey was against Los Angeles on Oct. 28. When Anze Kopitar lined up for an offensive-zone draw in overtime, the Bruins had to kill less than one second to advance the game into the shootout. David Pastrnak lost the draw cleanly instead of tying up Kopitar or initiating a faceoff violation. Neither Anders Bjork nor Krug could get in Tyler Toffoli’s shooting lane to keep the LA sniper from ripping the winner past Tuukka Rask.
The Bruins weren’t much better on Friday against the Maple Leafs. They are not in position to bleed away points, even if they tucked away 2 of 4 against Toronto and LA.
“We were hemmed in there a little bit,’’ Nash said. “At that point and time, you’re just trying to hold down the fort and not give them Grade-A looks. When you get a faceoff, it starts all over again. You get a little bit of a breather. It’s a 50-50 puck off the draw. I don’t think [icing] is a bad idea. A couple of times, we tried rimming it. But their glass there is not the hardest. So it just kind of kills it. You’ve got to figure out a way to get it out and just hang on.’’
O’Gara in lineupRob O’Gara, a healthy scratch Friday, replaced Paul Postma on the third pairing Saturday . . . Bjork was fortunate not to have Matt Martin take his head off in the second period. Bjork had picked up steam with the puck in center ice when Martin, roaring from the other end, clobbered the rookie. Later in the second, Matt Beleskey challenged Martin to a brief bout. “I kind of stumbled a bit,’’ Bjork said. “I was trying to settle on the puck. I’ve got to learn from that and get my head up quicker.’’ . . . David Krejci (back) and Ryan Spooner (groin) skated on Saturday.
