
Sean Kuraly doesn’t know his own strength.
“Somebody loosened a screw for me,” the Bruins forward joked after a 4-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at TD Garden on Thursday.
But Kuraly’s hit was the only one that damaged the Garden playing surface and caused a brief delay. It was reminiscent of a hit Milan Lucic, now with the Oilers, put on Toronto’s Mike Van Ryan – a hit that actually shattered the glass.
The important thing about Kuraly’s hit was that it sent a message to the Oilers but no one was hurt.
“I knew I wanted to give him a good lick, but at the same time you want to be a little bit respectful,” Kuraly said. “He knows I’m coming but at the same time you don’t want to put him in too vulnerable a position. But he was safe with how he kind of protected himself and I kind of read it and knew that it’s my job to get in on the forecheck and finish defensemen, not just for that play, but for the rest of the game.”