Jake DeBrusk stood at his stall Thursday night, his right arm draped around the shoulder of his mother Cindy. Both he and his mom, smiles from ear to ear and both answering questions from the assembled media.
Some of Cindy’s quips were enough to force her son to rub his face in embarrassment before asking her stop with a simple “mom.”
But after finishing the second leg of the Bruins Moms Trip, and one that saw her son Jake score goals number 12 and 13, there was no stopping Cindy.
“Lots of love, lots of hugs, lots of fun,” Cindy said.
It was a fun night for the Bruins and their moms, a night that was led by David Pastrnak’s hat trick performance, and a pair of DeBrusk goals.
The Bruins Moms Trip began Tuesday in Nashville and ended Thursday in Boston. Entering the Moms Trip with three straight losses and leaving it with two straight wins, the Bruins were able to deliver the perfect gift to their mothers.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
“I think so,” Jake said about the timing before perfect before being cut off by his mother. “I think so for sure, it’s been a tough last four of five games I think,” said Cindy.
On most nights Pastrnak will carry the offense on his back, but as we saw Thursday, it’s not always going to be enough.
"Jake knows his value to this team. It’s an offensive role, building his 200-foot game. That’s no different than anybody else, but he makes us better when he’s winning races to pucks, and that’s what he did on those,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said.
“He squeezed one in, kept one in or blocked a pass down the wall and won a foot race.”
It was a three-point night in all for DeBrusk, helping the Bruins skate past the Jets 5-4.
When DeBrusk is on his game, each shift brings a different amount of danger to the Bruins attacking zone. He’s at his best when he’s battling for pucks along the boards, or parks himself in front of the opposing net looking for tip opportunities and loose pucks.
He did all the above and then some against the Jets.
“That’s what we encourage Jake to do every night, because he has the ability to do that,” said Cassidy. “Build his game along the wall, build his defensive structure, good stick, but that part of his game, we’d like to see it every night where he’s in puck pursuit.”
The second line has been a work in progress for most of DeBrusk’s tenure in Boston. For the last two games it’s been Anders Bjork getting a crack at becoming the consistent winger to the right of DeBrusk and David Krejci.
“Now, with Anders on the other side with Krech [Krejci] gives them a lot of speed. Anders has been good at that, hasn’t had the finish Jake has, so if they can combine the two of them, we feel that we have a threat to score, especially in games like this where their back line was very aggressive in the neutral zone trying to stay up,” said Cassidy.
“So, if they make a mistake, all of a sudden, you’re in behind them with that kind of speed, you’ll get in, and he was able to do that a couple of times.”
Jake’s three-point night came in a variety of ways. He scored on a breakaway, tipped home a Charlie McAvoy point shot, and picked up an assist by putting a puck on net which eventually led to Pastrnak’s third of the night.
"That's when I play my best, when I use my feet and attack the other team's defensemen. Whether it's generating chances or drawing penalties, things like that I can obviously do more,” added DeBrusk.
“I haven't really liked my start to this year so going into the second half and around the all-star break, I think that I'm trying to keep it consistent and start to find my game."
DeBrusk quietly has 13 goals on the season and now six points in his last six games. He hopes consistency is just around the corner.
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