As he was quick to point out, only Sean Kuraly truly knows what he was intending when he snapped a puck home from center ice.
Stuck in a scoreless rut stretching back 11 games, Kuraly was looking for any possible way to generate a good look on net Sunday against the Golden Knights.
So maybe a ricochet shot off the end boards might do the trick?
"I don’t think I can say that I did it purpose, but I don’t know,” Kuraly said of the attempt.
In a game as chaotic as hockey, Kuraly’s pedestrian volley from deep was just what the center needed to snap his slump — as the puck skittered back to the slot and past Vegas netminder Malcolm Subban, allowing Jeremy Lauzon to bury his first career NHL goal past an out-of-position goalie.
The rookie defenseman might draw most of the fanfare on the play, but that unorthodox helper off the stick of Kuraly is just the latest step in the right direction for a line that has failed to translate checks, screens and rushes into tangible points.
“I think we’re getting closer as a line and I thought we had some good chances tonight and played well,” Kuraly said. “It’s going to take a ton of chances and that’s what we want to do and once we get one I think we’ll feel a little better about ourselves and keep going.”
Bruce Cassidy didn’t spend much time discussing the production Boston received from its top line during Sunday’s 4-1 win.
Two goals. Four points. It’s starting to become the norm for the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line.
No, Cassidy instead delved into the production put forward from his third and fourth lines — a welcome surprise given the previous state of the six forwards, but an encouraging development for a Bruins club on the cusp of finally putting the right pieces in place up front.
Along with Kuraly’s helper standing as the first point for the fourth line since Oct. 13 against the Red Wings,
Danton Heinen’s
tally in the first period — his second in three games — marked the first five-on-five goal for a revamped third line since that 8-2 drubbing against Detroit.
Boston’s firepower up front has largely relied on the Murderers’ Row of Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak and a stout power play to keep the Black and Gold afloat, but secondary scoring appears to be sprinkling into the scoresheet as of late — with 11 different skaters notching at least a point over the past two games.
Kuraly’s playmaking on the Lauzon goal might have benefited from an odd bounce off the boards, but there was nothing lucky with Heinen’s tally just 2:54 into regulation.
Winning the puck along the boards, Bjork fed the puck to Heinen for the breakout in the D zone, with both skaters speeding through the neutral zone while trading the biscuit back and forth. Skating in on Subban from the right, Bjork lofted the puck in off a backhand feed, allowing Heinen to tip it home to open the scoring.
“They did it the right way, started in D-zone, they played it, they won a puck, got it behind their D, won a foot race and got it to the front of the net, so it wasn’t lucky,” Cassidy said. “It wasn’t a fluke. It was the right way to do things, and they got rewarded for it. So, hopefully, that reminds them how they need to play. Then after that, a few more pucks find them. They win some pucks down low. They’re attacking the net.
There are still a few areas to clean up on that third line — where the average age of the trio is just a hair over 22. During the nine minutes of five-on-five TOI for Bjork, Heinen and
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson
, the B’s found themselves outshot, 9-2, and out-attempted, 12-3.
Often on the wrong side of possession stats, the Kuraly line has started to find some momentum with
David Backes
skating on the wing — with Boston holding an 11-2 edge in shots on goal over the eight minutes of TOI that Kuraly and Backes were out on the ice together.
Now, is the Merlot line and the likes of
Chris Kelly
and
Rich Peverley
walking through that door? Nope.
