Jake DeBrusk heard the calls into sports talk radio. He read all the articles about his struggles. He saw what general manager Don Sweeney and head coach Bruce Cassidy said about him before a healthy scratch against the Islanders Tuesday night.

DeBrusk bottled all that up, took it personally and returned to the Bruins lineup Thursday with a bang.

Not only did DeBrusk score a goal—his first five-on-five goal of the season—in the Bruins 4-0 shutout of the Rangers, he was engaged physically, created scoring chances by using his speed and was effective in all three zones.

In other words, he did exactly what the coaching staff wanted the 24-year-old DeBrusk to do.

"He was better on the walls, trying to effect the play up the ice on the forecheck, a little second effort below the goal line to stay to keep pucks alive in O-zone play," said Cassidy. "I liked what I saw tonight."

Like you and I, DeBrusk is human. He takes criticism the same way we do. Sure, his contract and status in the National Hockey League makes him more susceptible to harsh criticism whether deserved or not.

His scoring woes, and lack of all-around effort certainly made the criticism deserving. DeBrusk has been a healthy scratch before. He understands the message that comes with watching a game from above the ice.

But that doesn’t make the situation any easier to accept.

“I think that the reason why I played that way tonight was because I was pissed off. It’s my job to be the best I can be every single day. There’s obviously distractions. I’m a pretty easy target at the moment. I understand the territory. It’s pretty much warranted. I get that,” said DeBrusk.

“I took it personally for sure. Who wouldn’t? Any time you get scratched, it stings. I was pretty beyond frustrated already. It was a nice little reset for me because I knew I was going to come with some heat today.”

While DeBrusk’s game looked different on the ice, he himself looked different. He ditched the longhair for a sleeker haircut along with a new stick.

DeBrusk was previously using Bauer’s Nexus stick. You know, the stick with a long wide hole in it. But for this one, he traded the stick in for a more traditional twig.

“I had the long hair for a while there. I don’t know, I just needed to look a little younger, feels like everyone thinks I’m kind of done here. That’s what the hair was for,” said DeBrusk.

“I do notice he uses that that stick with the, whatever type,” Cassidy said. “I see it in practice as well. But I did not notice tonight. I did notice him shooting one in the net. That’s what I noticed. And I liked it.”

DeBrusk snapping his scoring drought and showing the type of effort he did on Thursday was a step in the right direction, but the former first-round pick needs to bring that game to table more often than not.

DeBrusk says the frustration is not going anywhere anytime soon.

“It’s still there. It’s still there in the sense of I need to bring that consistently,” said DeBrusk. “Obviously, the game is done. It’s all happy. It’s a different narrative now because it’s scored, but I’m keeping that. That’s not going away.”

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