‘He’s invested’ - Offered a clean slate this postseason, Jake DeBrusk is already crafting his redemptive arc in 2021

Bruce Cassidy’s message to Jake DeBrusk was simple in the days leading up to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last weekend. 

“Help the team win,” Cassidy said. “That might be a number of different ways for him.”

Given DeBrusk’s resume and past postseason heroics (14 goals in 49 playoff  prior games to this season), it would seem like the easy avenue to help out his club would be to light the lamp, of course. 

But those opportunities have been few and far between for DeBrusk in what has been a trying 2021 campaign, to say the least — with the 24-year-old winger closing out his fourth full season with the B’s with just five goals over 41 games.

Just last month, DeBrusk — once a top-six stalwart — was out of Boston’s lineup entirely for a brief spell, only gaining entry back onto the ice over the last two weeks as third and fourth-line contributor (and etching his name back into the scoresheet). 

And yet, while the arrival of the Stanley Cup Playoffs does raise the stakes for all involved — it does also offer a clean slate for a winger like DeBrusk, one who is likely doing whatever he can to put the past five months in the rearview mirror. 

It certainly hasn’t been DeBrusk’s year, at least up to this point. But all of those struggles, second-guesses and narratives all can be dispelled if he bookends five months of frustrations with eight weeks of committed play.

So far, it certainly seems like DeBrusk is more than cognizant of the opportunity available to him this postseason — and through two games, it sure looks like the winger building crafting a redemptive arc to his 2021 season. 

“For Jake, I mean, he very well could have said to himself, 'Listen, it doesn't matter now. Whatever happens, it's the playoffs. That's our goal anyway at the start of the year,’” Cassidy said of DeBrusk’s approach going into the playoffs. “Obviously, we want to have good regular seasons, we judge people on their regular seasons, you don't get to the postseason without a good regular season. 

“But if a guy's a little bit off, doesn't meet his quota or numbers or standard, then he does have an opportunity — as long as he's willing to show that he wants to help the team win. That's it right now. And that was the message to some of the guys that maybe weren't happy with their regular season.”

Through two games now against the Capitals, it’s been DeBrusk that’s led the B’s in scoring — snapping a puck past Vitek Vanecek in Game 1 before opening the scoring in Game 2 by knocking a feed from Charlie Coyle into an uncovered Washington net just 5:05 into Monday’s matchup at Capital One Arena. 

And even though DeBrusk — promoted up to the third line for Game 3 after opening Boston’s first-round series on at 4LW — very well could have buried two goals on Monday after his one-timer hit Craig Anderson square in the chest later in Monday’s game, Cassidy will certainly take the higher volume of chances, even if not all of them have found the net.

“He has the ability to be a wild card in terms of scoring goals for us,” Cassidy said of DeBrusk. "He has done it in the playoffs, has done it in the regular season and he's doing it now. So good for Jake and they're not lucky. He's gone to the front of the net. He's shot the puck. So they weren't just fluky goals, they were well-earned. So he's invested. That's what we need.”

(A look at DeBrusk's event map through two games — with plenty of shot attempts in and around Grade-A ice against the Capitals.)

While DeBrusk’s recent resurgence is a major plus for a Bruins’ lineup looking for more production outside of their top-six unit, he was far from the only third-line contributor to take a major step forward on Monday, as Cassidy also heaped plenty of praise on Coyle after making a lineup shuffle and shifting the veteran back over to his usual spot over at center. 

Much like DeBrusk, it’s been far from an ideal regular season from Coyle — who, even when he gained traction down the stretch, was still slotted over at right wing on the third line. But the optics certainly looked promising in Game 2, with the Weymouth native setting up DeBrusk’s tally by taking the puck with authority down low and getting Anderson to bite and leave the blue paint — creating an easy tally just seconds later. 

“I thought Charlie Coyle looked dominant out there. … When I was asked when we moved (Coyle) to the wing, I didn't think it would be forever — and it wasn't,” Cassidy said. “So we just felt now was the time. Freed him up a little more now to attack and dish and I just think Jake responded very well to it. … I thought he played hard. Played like Jake played in the past.” 

Boston will welcome such a development, because if DeBrusk can turn back the clock and look like the DeBrusk that buried five goals against the Leafs in 2018 — an already loaded B's forward corps could make life miserable for even the most stingiest defense.