Sean Kuraly’s quick wrist shot shot surprised just about everyone in attendance at TD Garden.
Credited for having a “quick release”— but not a “heavy shot”, according to Bruce Cassidy — Kuraly’s split-second volley toward the Leafs’ net seemed rather harmless, fired in from 30 feet following some impressive maneuvering in the neutral zone.
Joakim Nordstrom, who chipped the puck out of Boston's side of the sheet, didn’t even see Kuraly’s shot. Most of the crowd didn’t rise to their feet as the B’s winger dangled his way into Toronto territory.
Frederik Andersen apparently didn’t see it coming, either.
He’s only lit the lamp 14 times in 154 regular season games, but Kuraly’s third-period attempt found twine in a hurry, sailing high past Andersen’s glove to give Boston a 3-1 lead against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 — and uncorking an already raucous crowd into another tier of decibel-defying chorus. Kuraly, playing in just his second game back after missing close to a month due to a fractured hand, celebrated accordingly with a trademark leap into the glass.
“They don’t usually go in for me, but that was a good one and a big one,” Kuraly said. “I think you can see by the way I reacted how I felt about that goal, and so if you want to know, just, you can watch it again I think.”
Kuraly’s quick strike might have caught many on Causeway Street by surprise — but not
Patrice Bergeron.
“I saw it all along. I was like,
Man, he’s got it,”
Bergeron said. “That was an amazing shot.”
He’s largely been relegated to a bottom-six role during his two full seasons with the Bruins, but when Kuraly does manage to cash in during O-zone play — it’s come at a pretty crucial time for his club.
For a player whose first career goals came during a win-or-go-home Game 5 against Ottawa back in 2017 — it shouldn’t come as much of a shock that Kuraly often etches his name on the box score during big moments.
He certainly has a knack for it. During a span of four days earlier this season, Kuraly:
- Capped what was a third-period comeback against the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 29 with an overtime goal — snapping a two-game losing streak for his team and jumpstarting a run that saw Boston go 22-3-5 from late December all the way through the second week of March.
- Tallied the eventual game-winning goal at 10:20 in the third period to lift Boston past the Blackhawks at the 2019 Winter Classic in South Bend.
Add in Tuesday’s contributions in what was an eventual 5-1 victory for the Bruins over the Leafs in Game 7 and … fair to say, the 26-year-old forward has a flair for the dramatic.
“He’s been doing that since he came in,” Bergeron said. “He played in Ottawa in the playoffs and scored in overtime. I think that was his first goal. He’s got a knack for those big goals. Winter Classic, scored a big goal. He’s a gamer and again, tonight, he proved it.”
After shaking off some rust in Friday’s Game 5 loss at TD Garden, Kuraly has been downright dominant in Boston’s checking-line corps — using his mix of size (6-foot-2, 213 pounds) and speed to become a
During Boston’s victories over Toronto in Games 6 and 7, Kuraly logged 22:15 of 5-on-5 time on ice (5v5 TOI). During that stretch, the Bruins had a plus-2 goal differential, outshot Toronto by a 12-6 margin and posted a plus-9 differential in terms of shot attempts.
“We talked about him missing the start of the series, and you talk about a depth guy and think how much you can miss him, but we use him in a lot of different ways for us, and he’s a valuable playoff guy,”
Bruce Cassidy
noted.
In particular, his ability to close in fast on skaters in the O-zone allowed Boston to establish a forecheck in short order — and catch a mistake-prone Leafs defense on its heels.
Look no further than the sequence that led to Nordstrom's
opening goal at 14:29 in the first period.
What appeared to be a pedestrian puck exchange from Andersen to
Travis Dermott
quickly unraveled thanks to Kuraly’s wheels, as he closed quickly on the routine transfer and pushed Dermott to the end boards — freeing up the puck and letting Boston’s checking line get to work.
“I didn’t know how much speed he has,” said
Charlie Coyle
, who admitted that he didn’t know much about Kuraly before getting dealt to Boston back in February. “He backs those guys up. ... I’m glad I’m playing with him; hope you don’t have to go against that.”
When the Nordstrom-Kuraly-Acciari line is at its best, even clubs with some skilled skaters up front can labor when it comes to keeping up with their suffocating forecheck. While Kuraly and Nordstrom continued to hem Toronto’s defensemen behind the Leafs’ net, Acciari provided the safety net as the F3 (the high forward in a 2-1-2 forechecking structure that remains above the faceoff circles).
Add in Kuraly’s drive through the neutral zone and eventual tally in the third period that signaled the beginning of the end for Toronto’s hopes in 2019 — and all in all, it was a clutch showing for a player on the big stage.
