Derek Forbort offered glimpse at his true value on Boston’s D corps during gut-check finish against Sharks

The situation that played out over those excruciating final moments of action on the Garden ice Sunday is often a fan’s worst nightmare.

One minute left in regulation. A one-goal lead. And the opposing netminder planted on the bench.

It’s the type of event that had 17,000 squirming in their seats on Causeway Street — and thousands more pacing around their living rooms and checking their heart rates.

But for a stay-at-home blueliner like Derek Forbort — there’s no better stretch of hockey than the time spent clinging to such a slim margin with the game hanging in the balance.

To each his own, I suppose. 

"I love it,” Forbort said. “I think being out there with a one-goal lead and the goalie pulled — that's kind of my favorite time to play hockey."

The 29-year-old veteran certainly isn’t flashy, leaving the puck-moving responsibilities and transition game to more fleet-footed D-men like Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk. And Bruce Cassidy himself compared Forbort’s game to that of an offensive lineman — in that the less you notice him in action, the better he’s probably playing. 

But in those frantic final seconds of game action in which the opposition is pushing hard for an equalizing tally, Forbort is hard to miss. Even though his contributions over the span of an 82-game slate could get overlooked, Forbort’s performance during Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Sharks served as a perfect showcase as to why Boston identified him as such an essential offseason pickup.

What looked to be a comfortable 4-1 victory for Boston against San Jose went sideways in a hurry — with  Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier tipping a pair of pucks past Linus Ullmark in the third period to cut the visitors’ deficit to just one.

With 4:52 still left on the clock when Meier’s tip attempt touched twine, the Bruins knew that another major push was inevitable. They needed to stem the bleeding … and fast.  

As such, it didn’t come as much of a surprise that Forbort and his 6-foot-4, 219-pound frame was planted in front of Boston’s net for 2:22 of the final 3:00 of regulation play — including a final 1:02 shift with San Jose’s net empty and a sixth Sharks skater lurking in the O-zone.

Brent Burns nearly orchestrated San Jose’s sought-after equalizer with 59 seconds to go, firing in a shot that clanged off of Ullmark and settled in front of Jasper Weatherby in the blue paint.  

The Sharks' skater managed to get his blade on the loose biscuit for a shot directly into Ullmark’s pads, but he would not get another — as Forbort tied up his stick and fell on the ice as a pig-pile spilled out onto the crease.

San Jose continued to pressure Boston in the O-zone, but any attempts to corral the puck behind Boston’s net were fruitless. Be it beating Jonathan Dahlen to a loose puck along the end boards and fishing it out of danger ice — or shoving aside Logan Couture on another end-boards scrap — those are the type of plays that Forbort excels at, even if they often go unnoticed on the stat sheet. 

Of course, Forbort’s efforts following the eventual 4-3 win were appreciated by those in the B’s room — especially a winger who is also regularly tasked with those same last-minute D-zone shifts in Brad Marchand. 

"He's been great from the first day he's been here — in the room, off the ice, he gets along with everybody really well," Marchand said. "He's a great guy. And then obviously his game on the ice, he's one of those guys that you hate to play against. He's just really solid defensively, makes really good plays in the D-zone and he goes top cheese too. So happy to have him here."

Forbort isn’t going to make hockey fans rub their eyes and think they saw Scott Niedermayer gliding around out there on the ice, but the rugged defenseman did post two points in the win— firing a puck past Adin Hill just 3:18 into the contest and later adding a secondary helper on Jake DeBrusk’s second-period strike.

Of course, the Bruins will welcome any offensive contributions that Forbort puts forth — even if that production is far from the reason why they signed him back in August.  

Much like an offensive lineman, Forbort isn’t exactly a guy who always pops on film — nor is he going to generate a lot of headlines as a free-agent signee. 

But as part of a cog in the greater machine that is the B’s defensive structure — players like Forbort can mean the difference between an anxious couple of minutes treading water in the D-zone, and a back-breaking defeat.

“You want to be on the ice in those big moments," Marchand said. "I think that's what we get a rush out of — is the intensity and hearing the crowd all fired up and just the seriousness of each situation, each play and it could make or break the game. So that's where the pressure comes in and it's a lot of fun to play under pressure. Those games are always more fun to be part of than a blowout game. ... Guys like (Forbort), you need them out there in those last-minute, one-goal games and he thrives in that situation."