The re-entry might have been a trifle slow for some, but Justin Brazeau is back to being a Bruin worth watching.
After a slow start which saw him get scratched twice, Brazeau now has goals in back-to-back games and, judging from the lines in Monday’s practice, he’s going to get another shot at riding the right wing on the Brad Marchand-Charlie Coyle line.
What has clicked for the 6-foot-5, 220-pound wing that’s allowed him to have some success lately?
“Just his habits,,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “His stick has been really good offensively, but more so defensively, causing turnovers in the D-zone, causing turnovers on the forecheck and then getting to the areas that he has success. His goal (on Saturday against Toronto) is the best example of it, but on the power play, too, he was owned the net front. He knows what he is and he’s played to what he is.”
Brazeau began last season in Providence on an AHL contract before eventually signing an NHL deal and being brought up in February, scoring in his big league debut. He suffered a wrist injury late in the season that curtailed some of his production. But when he returned for the playoffs, he kept earning icetime late in games. It was his grunt work that led to Hampus Lindholm’s third period tying goal that got the B’s Game 7 against Toronto into overtime.
If you thought his slow start was indicative of a player who thought he’d made it, you’d be wrong. Brazeau returned to Boston in July skating and working out at Warrior Ice Arena to prepare for what he hoped would be a big year.
He was not discouraged with his start, however.
“It was a little (frustrating) but I also I knew that it was going to come,” said Brazeau, who has one year left at the league minimum of ($775,000) before he’s becomes a UFA next summer. “I knew I’d put the time in and when you do that, good tings happen. So I just wanted to stick with it.”
At 26, Brazeau is a late-bloomer. He had an excellent junior career, posting 61-52-113 in his last season with the North Bay Battalion in the Ontario Hockey League, but his foot speed was a hindrance against making an NHL that has been increasingly focused on speed. He went undrafted. But getting his chance a little later than some has given Brazeau a self-awareness that younger players might not have. It also helps him fight his way out of cold streaks.
“I’ve been through it before. I’ve been up and down my entire career. I’ve been through those stretches,” said Brazeau. “Just knowing who you are what you do well on the ice, never trying to be someone I’m not…I always go out there knowing exactly what I need to do to help the team so I focus on that.”
It’s no surprise that both his goals have come from the low slot area. In his short time as an NHLer, he’s earned a reputation as a guy who’ll occupy the difficult areas of the ice. While some look at his frame and ask why he won’t run opponents through the boards, Brazeau’s brand of physicality — absorbing punishment – can be every bit as rewarding, if not more so.
“I think I just got back to basics in trying to find my game and being simple, going to areas where I can score goals,” said Brazeau, who still sees room for improvement.
“It’s just getting to what I do best, playing fast. I know I’m not the fastest player on the ice but that doesn’t mean you can’t play fast, move the puck quick, being hard on forechecks and keeping that O-zone time. So I just want to keep doing that.”
Montgomery said using Brazeau with Coyle and Marchand is possible partly because of his defensive prowess allows the coach to use the line in a shutdown role. And offensively, Brazeau doesn’t feel he needs to change anything.
“I’ve just got to do what I do best, make some room out there for those guys, try to be hard on the forechecks to help them get pucks back, being at the net, so when they’re making their plays, I’m there for second opportunities,” said Brazeau…
Montgomery was vocal and demonstrative for much of the 45-minute session on Monday. Asked what area that stands out as needing improvement, he didn’t hesitate in saying “puck pressure.”
“Our puck pressure last game was the best it’s been but it’s still not where it needs to be,” said Montgomery. “I would not come close to describing our team as being relentless and that’s where we want to get. It’s more forwards working in the offensive zone and the neutral zone so that the D-men can have better gaps. Forwards back off and the D-men have to back off…the third period, the last 15 minutes of the third period, we backed off. And that’s not who we want to be.”
The B’s have been allowing their opponents too much time and space.
“Someone’s got to be pressuring the puck. You just can’t let them carry the puck for 10 to 15 feet. It should never happen with the way we play and we’ve just got to get better at that, to have a relentless pursuit attitude,” said Montgomery. “We did a lot of really good things with that in the first two periods and it led to our most Grade A scoring chances 5-on-5 in a game.”…
Asked what Morgan Geekie needed to do to get to where he was last season, when he had a career-high 17 goals, Montgomery was succinct.
“Play better,” he said before being more specific.
“Being relentless, being on top of pucks, knowing who you are, playing to your strengths, not being (results-minded). There are individuals still focused on results and…results should not factor into your preparation. It’s human nature that it does. If someone in their job is expecting a promotion and they’re focused on a promotion and they’re not doing their daily task until someone gets promoted, well then you’re not doing your job.”
Geekie has no goals and one assist in eight games…
The B’s take on the Flyers on Tuesday at the Garden. While 19-year-old Russian phenom Matvei Michkov has been as advertised (4-5-9 in nine games), it hasn’t led to much success for Philly (2-6-1) yet.