By sticking with the 'little plays’, Danton Heinen won the battle in Tuesday’s win over Carolina

Last Friday, Danton Heinen skated back to the Bruins bench, his head hanging low. 

Just seconds earlier, a careless turnover from the Bruins winger was snatched up in the neutral zone by Rangers’ forward Artemi Panarin, jump-starting a New York rush into the Bruins’ side of the ice that was capped with a 5v5 tally from Filip Chytil. It was just the sixth 5v5 goal scored by the opposition during Heinen’s 300+ minutes of 5v5 time on ice (TOI) this season, but leaning on those stats weren’t going to do much to take the sting out of an ugly turnover. 

As such, Heinen returned to the bench following Chytil’s tally at 6:21 in the second period. He did not touch the ice again until 2:19 in the final stanza. Heinen, who logged just 9:50 of ice time in Boston’s eventual 3-2 overtime win over the Blueshirts, was one of a few choice players that Bruce Cassidy opted to let sit on the pine for an extended stretch. 

“There were a few guys; he was one of them,” Cassidy said postgame of Heinen’s benching. "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.”

Given the track record that Heinen has built for himself as a dependable, two-way option up front, one glaring defensive gaffe simply stood as one too many on Friday night. The 24-year-old forward can still be a polarizing figure to some, given the lack of flash in his game when compared to other younger wingers on the roster such as David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk, and Anders Bjork. 

Fair or not, such is the hand that has been dealt to Heinen, who, much like an NFL offensive lineman, perhaps might be at his most effective when he’s making the plays that don’t exactly make the highlight reel. 

Tuesday was more of the Heinen that Cassidy and his staff have become accustomed to seeing on a regular basis. Sure, he finished with just a secondary helper in Boston's 2-0 victory over the Hurricanes. But that assist, and more importantly, the battle he won just seconds prior, proved to be the difference-maker in what stood as the Bruins' eighth consecutive victory. 



Entering the final minutes of regulation, the Bruins and Hurricanes were still stuck in a 0-0 deadlock, with both clubs laboring when it came to generating any sustained pressure in the offensive zone. In the first two periods alone, Boston had only managed to orchestrate a pair of high-danger scoring chances against James Reimer in net.

But Carolina started to tilt the ice back in its favor as the seconds ticked off the clock, with the 'Canes maintaining some extended zone time while attempting to land a punch against Jaroslav Halak.

After recovering a puck along the boards, Carolina's Jake Gardiner skated along the blue line and cut hard to his left, hoping that an advancing Heinen would bite and take himself out of the sequence — allowing the defenseman to either fire in a shot against Halak or feed the puck back into a Grade-A area for a teammate.

But Heinen did not take the bait, stopping at the same time as Gardiner and knocking the biscuit loose with a quick poke check. Sneaking behind the Hurricanes' skater, Heinen corralled the puck and turned towards the neutral zone, starting a counter rush after passing the puck to Brad Marchand near center ice.

With Boston now having numbers down the Hurricanes' side of the ice, the B's finally had the opportunity they needed to strike. Shortly after crossing the offensive blue line, the Bruins had the lead, with Charlie Coyle tapping one past Reimer to make it a 1-0 contest at 15:55.



A new-look line of Marchand-Coyle-Heinen was strong all night for the Bruins, with Boston holding an 11-2 edge in shots on goal and 8-1 advantage in scoring chances during the trio's 11:10 of 5v5 ice time. But for Cassidy, Heinen's effort during that two-second stretch against Gardiner was all that was needed to validate a strong showing from No. 43.

"I like that he stuck with it, you know what I mean? Sometimes these young guys, they’re not going to win them all, but he stayed with it," Cassidy said. "He really did. And that’s the part I like — the second effort, to win a puck in a zero-zero game, in a non-scoring situation. It was more of a defensive play than anything, and he stuck with it. You need to be able to do that. ... He tends to have a very good stick and be positionally sound.

"We’ve said it all along with him, win more battles, get stronger. Part of that is just maturing, and part of it is second effort and will, and I thought tonight he had second effort and will in that particular battle, and it ends up being the difference in the game. Who knows how it would have went if we didn’t win that battle?"

Even if he hit a bump in the road during Friday's matchup against the Rangers, Heinen has still been as advertised when it comes to his reputation as a defensive stopper that can contribute down the other end of the ice.

In fact, he's been much better than just "as advertised." He's been elite at negating opposing scoring chances.

Since the start of the 2017-18 season, there have been 479 players in the NHL that have logged at least 1,500 minutes of 5v5 TOI. You wanna know which player leads that pack when it comes to 5v5 goals against per 60 minutes?

Yep — Danton Heinen, at 1.46.

In other words, over the span of 2 1/3 NHL seasons, opponents have only scored 54 5v5 goals in the 2226:48 of ice time that Heinen has logged. Down the other end of the ice during that same stretch, Boston has tallied 94 goals — good for a differential of +40.

Yes, he may not make many year-end highlights with dynamic end-to-end rushes or nifty dangles. But Heinen's steady, two-way game can pave the way to plenty of success at this level. And he's pretty damn good at it.

“It’s just the little plays," Coyle said of Heinen. "They make a big difference. You really bear down in our own zone, you win those battles, and you come out, quick 3-on-2, and you make your plays. Wasn’t the prettiest play, but it goes in. You just stick with that process."