McAdam: Bruins finally getting offensive contributions from defensemen

On the morning of what would turn out to be, to date, their only regulation loss at home this season, the Bruins found some inspiration from the stat sheet.

"When we played Seattle,'' recounted Charlie McAvoy, "in our meeting in the morning, we were talking about their D corps. I think they were first in the league in goals scored. That kind of got us wondering, 'Where are we in that?' We started kicking the numbers around and tried to add it up and it kind of put a little onus, like, 'Hey, let's try to be dangerous when we can and let's try and contribute.' Everybody has it in their game, and it really means a lot to the team, to the forwards.

"When we're able to contribute, good things happen.''

That was plainly evident Sunday night when the Bruins steamrolled the San Jose Sharks, 4-0, for their fifth straight win and ninth in the last 10 games. Half of the Bruins' goals -- one from McAvoy and one from Hampus Lindholm -- came from the team's defensemen.

The game marked the second time in the last three games that the B's got multiple goals from their blueliners, with McAvoy and Derek Forbort netting goals.

It was difficult for the Bruins to have their defensemen activated in the early part of the season, with McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk sidelined following offseason surgeries. And even after McAvoy returned to the lineup in the first week of November, it understandably took him a while to become fully acclimated.

Now, however, it would seem like it's all systems go for the B's D-corps. While the goal total is modest, the team entered Sunday night sixth in scoring from defensemen. And games like Sunday offer evidence that there's more offense to be tapped into from the defense.

In the Bruins' shutout of the Sharks, Lindholm scored a goal-scorers goal to open the scoring. Taking a pass inside the San Jose blue line, he deftly stepped around Michael Eyssimont, then unleashed a blistering wrist shot between the faceoff circles to beat San Jose goalie James Reimer,

Later, in the middle period, McAvoy gathered the puck at center ice, split two Sharks defensemen, stickhandled around a third and finally buried a backhander from in close to up the B's lead to 2-0.

The goal was pretty enough to invoke thoughts of one Robert Gordon Orr, and McAvoy's goal-scoring celebration reflected that in its exuberance, though it later caused him a bit of embarrassment.

"I kind of couldn't believe (the goal) happened,'' chuckled McAvoy. "I was a little bit taken aback, but I was excited.''

The Bruins, more than a dozen points in the clear of their next-closest competitors in the standings, don't have much need for improvement, but the possibility that they could add more scoring punch from their defense could make a very good team even better. And as Nick Foligno noted, those contributions require a total team effort.

Now that the forwards are helping out more, the defensemen are freer to jump up and help.

"I think as forwards, we weren't reloading as well, so they didn't think they could be as engaged,'' said Foligno, who potted a goal of his own in the second. "Now that commitment is back. You can just see it, that cohesiveness that we have between the neutral zone, or even coming out of our end, it just seems to really power our game. I think I've really liked our last five or six games. We've just had a more complete effort.''

"We've been talking about it as a (group). I  think we've been good at getting involved,'' said Lindholm of the blueliners. "But we also need to shoot some more pucks and jump through the middle and get some scoring chances. We really did that tonight.''

It's one thing to be getting contributions from all four forward lines, as the Bruins have been doing most of the season. But if they can add additional firepower from their D-men, that would make the league's most dominant team that much tougher to defend -- now, and in the playoffs. Even if the aggressiveness doesn't always result in goals, the ability to jump into the play and provide additional pressure is a valuable weapon.

"I thought our best defense was our O-zone possession game,'' noted Montgomery. "I thought our defensemen kept a lot of pucks alive. All I know is, it's great to have an elite D-corps like we do, led by Lindholm and McAvoy, who scored two unbelievable goals to get us going. I thought they led us tonight with their intensity and our puck-possession game.''