It’s no secret that Jake DeBrusk is an emotional player. As an avid member of "Celly Szn", his post-goal celebrations are often evidence of that.

The emotion DeBrusk showed after his second period goal in Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning emphasized the magnitude of his goal, a goal that was just as important for him as it was for his team.

The tally was DeBrusk’s first goal and first point since scoring against the Arizona Coyotes on February 8th, a span of 10 games.

Not only did the goal snap DeBrusk’s scoring drought, it also doubled the Bruins lead in a victory that saw the Bruins take a giant step towards an Atlantic Division title and a Presidents’ Trophy.

"Anytime it goes in the net, it's a good feeling," said DeBrusk who now has 19 goals on the season. "I hadn't seen that in a while. It's always nice, kind of just the play overall. That's kind of what I want to be, use my speed and effort. Was just nice to contribute.”

A combination of his play of late, and head coach Bruce Cassidy wanting to get newcomers Nick Ritchie and Ondrej Kase a look with David Krejci, DeBrusk has been bumped down to the third line with Charlie Coyle as his center.

Over the course of the last two-three games, you could see DeBrusk’s game was turning a corner.

"Hopefully I get hot at the right time. That's one of the main things. Usually in the past, I have gotten better around this time, just overall mentally,” added DeBrusk. “It's a matter of sticking with it and grinding it out and understanding that these things do happen. Just a matter of trying to limit those. But hopefully I have a hot streak."

Now that the Bruins have extended their lead to nine points over the Lightning in the Atlantic, the Bruins will focus even more so on the postseason, and trying to figure out which four combinations of forward lines give them the best chance at victory.

Whether it ends up being the second line with Krejci, or third with Coyle, the Bruins will need DeBrusk to start producing again.

Cassidy was pleased with his efforts in Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

“It's nice to see when you play the right way and you're on pucks and chipping behind them and not getting ridden out of the play easily, said Cassidy. "He's a guy that at his age, scoring matters, maybe more than some other guys. I'm glad he got playing the right way. It wasn't a freebee. He earned it because he was playing hard."

The play DeBrusk scored on was a direct result of hard work and maybe a boost of confidence that DeBrusk has shown in his last few games despite his scoring woes.

After Coyle deflected a Lightning pass into the neutral zone, DeBrusk kicked things into gear, attempting to chase down the loose puck. A diving Zach Bogosian took DeBrusk down to the ice, drawing a much-needed power play. But DeBrusk stuck with the play, raced into the Lightning zone, and wristed a shot over the glove of Andrei Vasilevskiy.

"He was persistent. Another night maybe he goes down on that one and he doesn't get up," said Cassidy. "You just don't know. He stuck with it and he got rewarded at the end. I thought their line was excellent."

After being labeled a game-time decision due to an illness, Brad Marchand was able to play in the important contest. Despite opening the scoring for the Bruins in the first period, Marchand and his linemates didn’t see much five-on-five ice time, totaling just 8:34.

With their top line being held back a bit, Coyle, DeBrusk and Chris Wagner stepped up big with a nice night of five-on-five action.

In the 11:52 of five-on-five ice time they saw together, they had a Corsi For Percentage of 55.56%, seven scoring chances for, four high-danger scoring chances for and a goal.

"That's actually the first time when I was sick that I did anything decent in a game. Normally you're more of a liability, but it's just great that we won. It was obviously a big game and they're a good team. Great that we showed up,” said Marchand who finished the night with 14:36 of ice time.

"I don't think I've played 14 minutes in 10 years. Tried to keep the shifts short. Felt bad for Bergy [Bergeron] and Pasta [Pastrnak] having to put up with me, but we got it done. It was a good win."

With 15 games left and a nice nine-point cushion between them and the Lightning, the Bruins are sitting comfortably atop the NHL mountain.

Things could get much more comfortable for the Bruins if DeBrusk can turn Tuesday’s positives into continued success.

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