Bruins’ big guns flexed muscles in Game 3, but ‘unsung heroes’ like Derek Forbort helped breath new life into 1st-round series

When the time comes to splice together the final highlight reel for the Bruins’ 2021-22 season, it’s fair to assume the usual suspects will all get their expected time in the spotlight. 

There will be no shortage of David Pastrnak howitzers from the left circle. A few Jake DeBrusk cellys for good measure. A bone-crushing check doled out by Charlie McAvoy is a lock. And goalie hugs. … Plenty of goalie hugs.

Amid that star-studded cast of actors draped in black-and-gold sweaters, a rugged blueliner like Derek Forbort often tends to fly under the radar. 

The bread and butter of Forbort’s game doesn’t exactly draw the panache needed to accentuate a highlights package, especially when compared to the flash and skill wielded elsewhere across the Bruins roster.

If names like Pastrnak and Brad Marchand are the A-list headliners, Forbort is the dependable character actor that sprouts up in various flicks — rising to the occasion when needed, but otherwise blending into the background. 

A good day at the office for Forbort isn’t picking the top corner following a crisp glide into the offensive zone. (He’ll take it, no doubt, but leading a rush isn’t really part of his job description.)

Rather, Forbort’s primary duties when hopping over the boards are tasks that are far from enviable for other hockey players. 

“He's one of those guys that plays a game that guys don't want to play,” Marchand said of Forbort. “He sacrifices every night for the group, puts his body in harm's way.” 

It’s a tough gig, but someone’s got to do it. And Forbort’s stay-at-home mantra and shorthanded responsibilities — while often overlooked to a casual viewer — can go a long way when the calendar flips to the postseason.

On a night in which the Bruins avoided falling into an 0-3 hole in their best-of-seven series against the Hurricanes, Boston’s top stars once again left their imprint on Friday’s 4-2 victory.

Marchand’s first 5v5 goal since April 2 came at the perfect time, with his second-period strike giving Boston its first lead over Carolina since the Toronto bubble playoffs back in the late summer of 2020.

Pastrnak gave Boston a lead it would not relinquish with his power-play snipe later in the frame, rifling in a puck that sailed just past Canes rookie Pyotr Kochetkov. Taylor Hall added the dagger on the man advantage later in the third off of a give-and-go sequence with Pastrnak.

But when the time came on Friday night to catalog the numerous B’s skaters who all pulled on the same rope to keep Boston’s season afloat, most of the praise landed on the shoulders of Forbort, who was likely icing them in the B’s room. 

"If you look at the blocked-shot column, some of our guys tonight — really, I mean, to me, those are the unsung heroes,” Bruce Cassidy noted. “Guys that kept working really really hard to keep the puck out of their net. Like Forbort, for example, on the back end — he really showed his value tonight.”

A stout Bruins penalty kill (5-for-5 on the night) threw a wrench in Carolina’s plans of delivering a knockout punch on Friday, with Grade-A chances failing to manifest wherever Forbort planted his 6-foot-4 frame down low. 

By the time the final seconds ticked off the TD Garden scoreboard, Forbort had absorbed nine shots taken by Carolina in his 23:07 of ice time, with six of those blocks coming over a whopping 6:46 of penalty-kill reps. 

Those nine blocks are tied for Boston’s single-game playoff team record — with Forbort now standing alongside Dennis Seidenberg’s nine blocks in that 3OT marathon against the Blackhawks in Game 1 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final, along with Steve Montador’s painful performance in Game 3 against the Habs in 2009. 

Forbort might still be a relatively new face in Boston’s room after inking a three-year deal last summer, but the Minnesota native has already ingratiated himself to his teammates — beyond just his knack for welcoming punishment whenever he skates out on a PK shift. 

"He's a popular guy," Cassidy said. "He's very quiet. Doesn't say much – talks about him and his dog. A simple life. He's got personality when you get to know him. Guys root for guys like that. And again, he was brought in to be that type of stay-at-home, try to be a stiff defender. Keep the puck out of your net, shot-blocker — really good on the PK. He's been as advertised.

“We're trying to build some of the other parts of his game and he's working hard at it. But those are the guys that make a difference in these types of games, too. You need your scorers to score and your muckers or checkers, whatnot, to be physical and block shots, right. And that's what makes a well-run machine.” 

Yes, Forbort planting himself near the crease, intercepting passes and blocking a shot may not be featured in a year-end video for this Bruins team. Well, at least not in the regular season.

But in the Stanley Cup Playoffs — a two-month marathon in which players from all over the globe willingly battle through cracked ribs, shattered maws and aching bones in pursuit of that silver piece of hardware — performances like the one Forbort put forth on Friday are finally given their due. 

It’s the reason why Gregory Cambell’s willingness to fight through a splintered leg and gut out a PK shift during the 2013 Eastern Conference Final served as the backdrop for an NHL ad in record time. 

And why it’s safe to assume that the sight of Forbort hobbled over on Boston’s bench after eating a salvo of shots is going to be stitched into every video reel if this Bruins team does manage to orchestrate an improbable run this spring.

“Those are the guys that you win with in the playoffs,” Marchand said of Forbort. “You have to be able to have guys that are willing to put their bodies on the line every night and risk getting hurt every night if you want to go deep and he's a huge reason.

"Sometimes those guys that eat pucks and play hard like that don't get the credit they deserve. But it's great that he's getting that recognition. Because you don't win without guys like that."