On the mend for the first three weeks of the 2018-19 season due to an ankle injury, Torey Krug’s playmaking prowess from the blue line hasn’t lost a step since the defenseman returned to the lineup on Oct. 30.
With 17 points through 19 games, Krug is on pace for 64 points in his sixth full season with Boston. For reference, only five Bruins defenseman have ever tallied 60 or more points in a single campaign — Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, Brad Park, Carol Vadnais and Mike O’Connell.
Not too shabby.
And yet, even with Krug’s consistent production in the offensive zone, Bruce Cassidy still sat down with the blueliner for a chat about his decision-making with the puck on his stick.
An effective quarterback on the power play who can open up seams and capitalize with a rocket of a shot, Krug is not afraid to let a salvo loose from the point, ranking sixth on the B’s in shots on goal (49) despite missing 11 games.
And yet, even with a high volume of attempts, Krug’s usual shooting lane — an average of 49.58 feet away from the net — has struggled to get through to the opposing goaltender at times.
With an on-target percentage of 66.22 and just three rebounds created off of his shots, Krug’s discussion with Cassidy centered around the need to pick his spots when there’s an open look — and not hesitate to let one loose.
"He's a scorer. We had a chat with him a bit about that,” Cassidy said. “I want you to shoot for sticks, I want you to be smart on top, not get shots blocked. But at the same time, when you have a chance to finish? Finish.”
(Stick tap to Sean Tierney @ChartingHockey for the shot maps).
This past weekend was a step in the right direction for Krug, who tallied both of his goals of the season off of quality looks — both from very different areas of the ice.
Now, there was no way that Krug was going to pass up the chance gifted to him in overtime against the Senators on Sunday, snapping home a saucer pass from David Krejci to cap a four-game weekend for the B’s.
“Just a highly, highly skilled player making a great pass,” Krug said of Krejci’s set up. “That’s his specialty. He sees things that other guys can't see, even up from the press box. He made a great play and I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of it.”
But Krug’s strike from the blue line on Saturday night against Toronto saw the skilled defenseman capitalize with a good look from his usual office on the blue line. After Krejci recovered a wide shot from Krug and fed it back out to the slot,
Brad Marchand
tapped the feed out to Krug — with the Marchand’s tip back out opening out a clear lane to
Frederik Andersen.
Krug did not hesitate, firing one from the point that sailed past a screened Andersen to make it a 3-0 contest.
With Boston’s offense still struggling to find its footing on a consistent basis with
Patrice Bergeron
still out due to injury,
for Boston’s D corps to shoulder a significant portion of the team’s scoring responsibilities — whether it be lighting the lamp or generating quality chances off of rebounds.
“He'd be the first to tell you the goal (Sunday), he wasn't going to pass up his opportunity to shoot it in the net,” Cassidy said of Krug’s OT winner. “It was a great play by Krech and all three involved. He had been looking for sticks maybe a little too much at times. And yet, last night, he got one by just getting it though, feeding it through, so we'd like to see him contribute there.
“I don't want to take away his creativity. If he sees a play to be made, we're going to tell him to make it. But a lot like
Charlie (McAvoy)
, we want them to use their shot as well, especially when we're not getting a lot of secondary scoring."
With Boston’s defense hampered by injuries for most of the season, Krug has largely been thrown into the fire since his return, averaging more two minutes above his career TOI average at 22:32 this season.
He’s still settling into a groove, but this weekend was a positive step for Krug, who will be relied upon as a conduit of offense for a team in desperate need of a spark from the blue line.
“It’s been a work in progress. Still trying to continue to make sure I was on my game, especially that all-around game, and you know, at times, feel really good about it. Play, you know, probably 50 minutes, 55 minutes of good hockey,” Krug said on Saturday. “You know, for me personally probably playing 23 minutes.
“I play 21, 22 minutes of really good hockey and then I slip up and all of a sudden there’s a puck in the back of my net, so you know, I’ve got to do a good job of making sure I’m contributing the whole 60 minutes, and every shift I’m on the ice against good players, so it’s starting to come around. It’s still not there yet. You’re always trying to be perfect knowing that you’re never going to get there we’re going to continue to work towards that perfection and we’ll see where it goes."
