On afternoon with ‘some passengers’ for Bruins, Jack Studnicka’s 'will' stands out to Cassidy, teammates

What mattered most at the end of the afternoon for Bruce Cassidy was another two points scooped up for his club — with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Rangers Friday afternoon securing Boston's sixth win in a row and a point streak stretching back 10 games. 

In the span of two months, Boston has managed to orchestrate a pair of 10-point streaks — becoming just the third team in NHL history to post two point streaks of 10+ games through its first 30 games or fewer (2000-01 Blues + 1974-75 Sabres).

And yet, when discussing another comeback victory at TD Garden, Cassidy was quick to take some of his players to task in what was largely an uninspiring effort for most of the first 40 minutes of play.

“I just didn’t think we had it as a group,” Cassidy said. “There was some guys – we had some passengers, not a trait of our team, but tonight, we did. ... I just didn’t think they weren’t hard enough on pucks. We shortened the bench; we’ve done that in the past to get people’s attention; we’ve done it in the past to get our game going, so guys that are going get out there a little more often to try to tilt the ice."

Playing in just his second game up in the NHL ranks, Jack Studnicka's usage was still restrained by Cassidy and his staff against New York, with the 20-year-old pivot logging just under 10 minutes of ice time in the victory. It's a bit to be expected for a green skater looking to find his footing up in the top pro league in the world, while Studnicka's ice time was also cut when his veteran winger, Charlie Coyle, missed the second half of the middle stanza while shaking off a blocked shot.

But even with Studnicka's limited TOI, Cassidy was quick to not lump the rookie in with the crop of skaters he had qualms with out on the ice.



Less than a week after generating his first NHL point off of a hard drive to the net against Montreal, Studnicka was at it again on Friday, using his tried-and-true acceleration to win a race to a skittering puck in the closing minutes of the second period, beating out an icing call.

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Given new life in the Rangers' zone, the B's capitalized. As Studnicka and Sean Kuraly battled down low, Jake DeBrusk cycled around the Blueshirts' net before firing in a shot from the blue line. There was little that Henrik Lundqvist could do, with Kuraly tipping DeBrusk's shot home at 18:28 in the period, cutting into what was a 2-0 New York lead at the time.

The entire sequence from Studnicka — from hustling to the puck during the tail-end of the period, to fighting down low against bigger bodies in the crease — drew praise from Cassidy.

"It’s a big difference, right? Listen, it’s not a high end, it’s just an effort, effort play. Some will," Cassidy said. "We hadn’t thrown many pucks at the net, good for Jake to throw it at the net, get a little traffic, force Lundqvist to work to find pucks, so we got a break. I think we created that break ourselves, and that’s been a bit of the message lately, is that we’ve gotten away from shot attempts, funneling. We certainly have enough skill, you saw that in the overtime goal and you see it with our power play.

"But in general, five-on-five, I think we could do a little better. Even though we’re scoring well, funneling some pucks and buying into a little bit of playing off the shot. One of (Patrice Bergeron's) line's biggest assets is that is they’ll do that, recover the puck and then all of a sudden plays open up because the other team hasn’t recovered to their defense-zone position. So that’s what we’re preaching."



Even though Boston has harped on the need for Studnicka to remain at his usual spot at center since turning pro with the Bruins' organization, Cassidy did opt to give the rookie some reps on the wing as the game progressed and Boston's bench shortened. He certainly didn't look out of place when skating with DeBrusk and Kuraly.

Despite a short sample size of just 2:34 of 5v5 TOI together, Boston managed to hold a 7-0 edge in shot attempts, 6-0 advantage in shots on goal and generated three high-danger scoring chances when the DeBrusk-Kuraly-Studnicka combination was out together on a shift on Friday.

“You can tell he is an elite player," Kuraly said of Studnicka. "It’s obvious. I think it’s been kind of fun getting a couple shifts with him. He’s got it all. He’s obviously a tough kid and it’s tough to be that young in this league. That’s a bunch of men in this league. But he’s not backing down from anyone. It’s impressive to see.”

It remains to be seen just how long Studnicka remains up top with the big club, especially when Bergeron is given the green light to return from a nagging lower-body injury. Even if Studnicka impressed when bumped off the pivot on Friday, Cassidy did note that the rookie will likely start at center for however many games he remains with the big club during this recall — only opting to switch him to the wing under dire circumstances.

But regardless of where Studnicka slots into the lineup, the numbers have been awfully encouraging, especially at 5v5 play. Even at 175 pounds, Studnicka's willingness to bring the puck into Grade-A areas has given Boston a 9-1 edge in high-danger scoring chances during his 22:10 of 5v5 ice time.

It's been an impressive start in the early going for the Windsor, Ontario native — but the promising forward wasn't about to give himself all the credit.

“Just can’t say enough about the leadership in this room," Studnicka said. "I’ve never seen anything like it coming up through my career. It’s really special being here. ... They just make me feel comfortable every day, making me feel involved, get me going, talk to me and just communicate little things throughout the game that they see that someone who plays in the AHL might not see. They’re really making it easy on me.”