Matt Grzelcyk bounces back in a big way to lift bloodied Bruins to blowout win in Washington

As the medical staff on the Bruins’ bench toiled away at trying to restore the Picasso canvas that Brad Marchand’s nose had devolved into, the plight of the banged-up Bruins winger served as a perfect encapsulation of the misery that Boston endured up to that point at Capital One Arena.

The Bruins were beaten and blooded over the first 18 minutes of action against the Capitals on Monday night, with the insult of a two-goal deficit exacerbated by the injury sustained by Marchand — with a high stick from Nic Dowd nearly shearing the schnoz right off the forward’s visage.

Marchand certainly took the brunt of the Bruins’ woes in the early going. But further down the Bruins’ bench, Matt Grzelcyk likely wasn’t feeling all too great either — even if his misfortunes thankfully didn’t require stitches and rolls of gauze to remedy.

The opening minutes of play were far from kind to Grzelcyk, who unfortunately found himself complicit in the 2-0 lead that the Capitals were able to manufacture on home ice. 

Even though Washington failed to capitalize on an early power play generated from an interference call against Grzelcyk, the Caps eventually struck off of a costly miscue from the B’s defenseman. While the Charlestown native was attempting to push the puck out to Patrice Bergeron on a breakout attempt, his backhand feed failed to connect with the pivot and instead skittered right out to Connor Sheary on a silver platter.

The Caps forward did not hesitate — rifling the puck past Linus Ullmark on a one-time bomb to give Washington its two-goal cushion.

It was far from the start both Grzelcyk and the Bruins were looking for, to say the least. But with Boston’s D corps already shorthanded with both Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton on the shelf due to COVID protocols, Grzelcyk knew that plenty of reps still loomed on the horizon — and with that, an opportunity to reverse said fortunes.

"For me personally, I kind of just want to get back on the ice as quick as possible,” Grzelcyk said postgame. “It's obviously a little uncomfortable skate going back to the bench knowing you just made a big blunder there and cost the team. But we have great resilience in the room. Great leadership. So guys immediately come up to me and tell me to keep my head up.  And I know that I have to play with confidence in order to get back in the game.”

As ugly as most of that first period might have been for Grzelcyk and the Bruins, it sure didn’t seem as though the 28-year-old defenseman was lacking in confidence as the minutes continued to tick off the clock.

Over the final 42 minutes of play after Marchand’s face was rearranged, the Bruins’ offense landed just about every punch they threw at the Caps — outscoring Washington by a 7-1 margin (including a string of six unanswered tallies) over that extended stretch en route to a blowout 7-3 triumph down in D.C.

Boston’s big guns such as Marchand and David Pastrnak (each with 2 goals and 1 assist) led the charge in Boston’s eventual win, no doubt. But it was Grzelcyk who left his fingerprints all over this one — and etched his name alongside some pretty esteemed company in the process.

By the time the dust had settled following Boston’s road win, Grzelcyk had logged five points (one goal, four assists) on the scoresheet, becoming just the fifth Bruins defenseman in franchise history to accrue that many points in a single contest. 

It was the first time that a Bruins defenseman reached such a scoring threshold since Ray Bourque accomplished the feat against Washington back on Jan. 2, 1994 — three days before Grzelcyk was born. 

(The other three B's D-men to hit 5+ points in a single game were Glen Wesley, Pat Egan and some fella named Orr.)

Such a performance is certainly an outlier to a still gifted puck-mover in Grzelcyk. But the BU product will certainly welcome any and all tangible production that comes his way. 

“As it's happening, you just kind of shake your head,” Grzelcyk said after the win. “I was just laughing during the game. I felt good about my game most of the year and points have been a little bit hard to come by. It's something I don't really worry about, but at the same time, my job is to add in offensively. So it is frustrating when you don't see the puck go in the net when you're on the ice and you just kind of laugh.

“I mean, everything just sort of fell into place. It was nothing that I did in particular. Obviously forwards did a great job reloading. I think that was a big difference. We as defensemen kind of read off them. We were able to close our gaps a little bit and I think we kind of got them by surprise there in transition and it made a big difference, especially in the second period.”

Yes, Grzelcyk’s final line was given a lift by Boston’s forwards sending just about every Grade-A look they generated against Zach Fucale and Vitek Vanecek into twine. 

But Grzelcyk’s offensive breakthrough couldn’t have come at a better time. Pushed up on the power-play depth chart in place of Charlie McAvoy during Boston’s 5-on-3 bid at the end of the first period, Grzelcyk checked off all the boxes of his special-team duties — moving the puck with pace and funneling it down to Boston’s weapons in Grade-A ice. 

Both times Grzelcyk fed the puck down to Marchand, the B’s scored — with Pastrnak and Marchand each lighting the lamp just 40 seconds apart to erase Washington’s two-goal cushion just ahead of the first intermission.

"We often told all those guys — even Torey (Krug) back in the day — you got to get the puck in the forwards’ hands and when it's your turn to shoot, shoot," Bruce Cassidy said. "But in general, be a facilitator, keep it moving, settle everyone down, be good on the entries. And Grizz has always done that well. So the power play was a nice reward for him to get started. "

Just 2:51 into the second period, Grzelcyk gave Boston the lead — one that it would not relinquish for the rest of the night. Skating through the neutral zone after a strong backchecking effort from Anton Blidh, Grzelcyk snapped home a shot from the high slot that caught Fucale by surprise, giving Boston a 3-2 advantage on the D-man’s second goal of the year.

“The shot — well, he hit the net, right? They backed in, he took the shot and he hit the net,” Cassidy said. “He's been off-net a little bit with some of his chances. So good for him. I think that was a theme throughout for us tonight. And even a little bit in Tampa — we're starting to be much more on net with our good looks. 

“And as a result, we're forcing goalies to be perfect or to make some high-end saves. And it's been a few games now where they haven't been able to do it, so good for us.”

Of course, one shouldn't expect Grzelcyk to replicate such a performance any time soon. You need an awful lot to go your way, or have the playmaking skill and O-zone mastery of someone like Robert G. Orr, — he of ten (10!) career 5-point games. 

Grzelcyk is not that, alas. 

But considering how both the Bruins and Grzelcyk started the night, they’ll certainly take the end result.

A five-point showing for a blueliner is a fantastic achievement. But to cap off this road trip with another blowout victory against an Eastern Conference contender might have been even sweeter for Grzelcyk and Co. 

"I've got a lot more responsibilities than just trying to get five points every night," Grzelcyk said. "I got to play the right way, kind of stay on the D side of the puck. Make sure that I'm closing, I'm using my feet to my advantage in the D zone, I'm not cheating when looking for offense. So certainly not gonna expect to get five points every night. Probably never again. But it was obviously a pretty cool moment and pretty cool to share my teammates.”