For Ryan Donato, adjustments away from puck are allowing him to reap rewards on stat sheet

For a game that saw Boston’s five-game winning streak come to a halt against a Capitals club that’s reeled off 14 straight wins over the B’s, Bruce Cassidy did note there were a couple of positives to take from Thursday’s 4-2 final at TD Garden.

One being the play of rookie Ryan Donato — who fired home his career-high sixth goal of the season in an outing where he landed a team-high seven shots against Braden Holtby.

Given the time and space afforded to the Harvard winger in the seconds leading up to his strike — along with the howitzer of a wrister in his arsenal — it seemed a given  Donato’s attempt was going to find twine.

Rather than laud Donato’s shot, however — which at this point, it’s known what kind of spark he can provide with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone — Cassidy opted to point out the seconds before Torey Krug’s pass reached Donato.



Looking to even the score with under six minutes to go in the second period, the Bruins broke into the Caps’ zone — with John Moore activating from the blue line and bringing the puck down along the boards in an attempt to find a seam in front.

While Moore lost an edge behind the Caps’ net, the puck eventually skittered back out to Krug on the blue line. With plenty of bodies piled up near the left circle and Danton Heinen fighting for position with Dmitry Orlov in front, any attempt from Krug was likely going to have to go through traffic in front.

Still learning the ropes up at the NHL level, an expected miscue from Donato on that sequence likely would have him skating deeper into Washington’s zone, looking for a Grade-A spot to unleash his shot.

While Donato’s average shot distance this season is largely around the league average at 29.03 feet, his on-target percentage clocks in at 77.22 percent — with the forward only posting a shooting percentage of 6.3 percent when factoring in his attempts along with his actual shots on goal.



(As always, a big shoutout to Sean Tierney at @ChartingHockey for the shot maps).

At times, those unsuccessful shooting totals can be a byproduct of poor puck luck — but proper positioning in the offensive zone can’t be understated, especially for a young player looking to find his stride like Donato.

While Donato from earlier this season might have skated in low against Holtby in an attempt to put himself in a spot for a good look on net, the 22-year-old winger instead accounted for Moore’s presence up front and motioned over to fill in the vacancy at the right point.

As such, Donato was in the perfect spot to receive an easy feed from Krug — affording the winger both the time and space to gather the puck away from traffic and rip one past Holtby for the equalizer.



“I thought it was one of his better games, on the puck, attacked well,” Cassidy said of Donato. “Obviously, finished a nice play. What I liked about that play that he scored on was that he actually covered up for the defenseman. He was in the right position when the puck found him, so as a coach those are the strides you hope players make over time.

“One that he missed in assignment is very similar the other night, so good for him because he can finish plays, we know that. And, he’s around the front of the net, so that part of his game we like. He’s always competitive there. It’s just rounding it out, so tonight he was arguably our most effective forward.”

That shot might be what put Donato on the fast track to the NHL last season, but the book has been out on the keys to the Scituate native’s development at this level — with most of it tied into his play away from the puck.

It’s certainly been a bumpy road for Donato — who’s just a game removed from logging just 10:30 of ice time in a 4-0 blowout win over the Wild that was largely decided after the first 20 minutes.

After getting scratched for the Winter Classic, Donato once again found himself in the doghouse during his return to the lineup on Jan. 3 against Calgary, with the forward losing a puck battle behind Boston’s net that eventually led to a shorthanded tally for Michael Frolik.

"The first shorthanded goal he has the puck down low,” Cassidy said after the 6-4 win over the Flames, a game in which Donato logged just 14 seconds on the power play. “That’s what Ryan has to be harder on it, make a strong play, and if he wants to be a power play contributor. … A lot of our younger guys we try to instill that but 5-on-5 and away from the puck, I thought he was trying to do the right things, be in the right place.”



Donato’s play on Thursday — resulting in just his third 5v5 goal of the season — was a small step forward for a “Kid Line” that’s continuing to progress, even with some bumps along the way.

Boston may not have much to show from it in terms of points in the standings following Thursday’s loss. But on most nights where your third line generates a goal to go along with a dominant 78.85 Corsi For Percentage and a plus-9 shot differential, the results are going to swing your way.

Now, it’s just a matter of these youngsters doing it on a consistent basis.

“I think the two things we’ve gotten better at is being comfortable playing in the D-zone,” Donato said. “Like, Minnesota, we were doing everything we can do to try to get in the offensive zone, but sometimes it’s just not your night, you’re not going to get it down there, but being comfortable playing in the D-zone and making sure you’re not giving up anything, and then, contributing offensively and getting chances is also huge for us.”