Andrew Peeke is not a Bruin that gets talked about a lot. By the nature of his role, that’s usually a good thing for the third pair defenseman.
While no one in the Bruins’ lineup has been perfect in this one-step-forward-one-step-back first month of the season, the 26-year-old Peeke may be playing his role as well as any Bruin defenseman – physical, hard to play against, no frills.
“I thought he had a really good camp and I thought he started the season really strong for us. The word ‘reliable’ is what it comes down to,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “I think he like the rest of the team struggled on the road trip but I thought his footing was exactly what he is again (in the B’s 4-3 overtime win over Toronto on Saturday). It’s comfortable to have a guy that’s a mainstay in your lineup like he is. You know you’re going to get physicality, you know you’re going to get somebody that’s trying to apply execution offensively and defensively in all three zones.”
This is Peeke’s first full season with the B’s after being obtained at the trade deadline last year to add some more oomph on the back end on the third pairing, which he did. Now, with a training camp under his belt, he’s got a growing comfort level.
“Obviously, when you get traded, you get thrown into the fire and you’re learning day by day,” said Peeke. “But it’s a blast.. Everyone here is super welcoming and made it easy for me. But being able to go through camp and go through preseason and being in on all the meetings from the start, that obviously helps. And getting closer to teammates and connecting on and off the ice, it translates well to your game.”
Peeke was a relatively high draft pick, taken by the Blue Jackets in the second round with the 34th overall pick in 2016. While he was always a defense-first kind of player – his highest point total at Notre Dame was in his last year with 3-21-24 in 40 games – and the Columbus organization told him what was expected out of him, it still took a little while for him to figure out what his identity would be at the big league level.
“The first couple of years in pro for anyone, you’re trying to figure out how I’m going to stick in the NHL or how am I going to get that chance to play an NHL game. And you have to adjust,” said Peeke. “Usually growing up, most of the guys in here and around the NHL are the better players growing up and have been the better players in college. You have guys here like (David Pastrnak) but you can’t just come up and be Pasta. You have to adjust. I think for me, learning to play that heavy, defensively solid game (was key). And then obviously if there’s a chance for offense to continue to join the rush or get pucks to the net, that’s always going to be an asset, too.”
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Peeke is part of a mammoth D corps that is designed to help win tight games. That has not yet come to fruition, as they’ve lost late leads in Utah (an overtime loss) and against Toronto (an OT win). It’s a work in progress, said Peeke.
“There have been a couple of games where we haven’t been the happiest with our performances. It’s early in the season and there’s room to grow,” said Peeke. “It’s not going to always be perfect. Sometimes you get off to really hot starts, sometimes you don’t. But I think for us, we know what we have in this room and once we find that consistency and let the forwards go to work in the zone and as defensemen make it so they don’t want to enter our zone, once that all connects for 60 minutes – we’ve had spurts of it – but I think when we play that full game, it’s not going to be fun for the other team.”
Peeke has played some with Mason Lohrei, but has lately been paired with the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Nikita Zadorov, one of the two big offseason signings along with center Elias Lindholm. It’s a formidable tandem.
“He’s a got a presence,” said Peeke. “He’ll win that battle down low and the next thing you know he’s skating the puck at the blue. For me, I think he knows what he’s getting out of me night in and night out. For him, it gives him that flexibility if he wants to take that chance, take that jump, to trust in himself to do that. And I know that he’s very good defensively too so the times that I jump up or see an odd-man rush, he’s going to be back there, too. It’s just about reading off each other and I think he knows both of us are going to win those battles and move the puck quickly.”…
Tuesday was Hockey Fights Cancer Night at the Garden and Montgomery said that, like most people, it hit home for him.
“It’s such an important night that we create awareness and continue to fund raise for this horrible disease in so many forms and how it affects so many people,” said Montgomery. “I think everybody in some form in their families has been touched by it, whether it’s a Mom with breast cancer and I’ve lost two brothers in law to cancer in different forms. It’s a really important night and I’m glad the Bruins are supporters and we as individuals are part of that support.”…
Joonas Korpisalo was set to make his first Garden start as a Bruin and his first start since winning in Colorado, 5-3, on October 16.