Depending on how quickly you move, Fraser Minten estimates you could walk from the Canucks’ Rogers Arena to his parents’ home in the Yaletown neighborhood of Vancouver in five or 10 minutes. Minten went to plenty of Canucks games as a kid, but he had never actually gotten the chance to play at Rogers – until Saturday night, that is.
And what a homecoming it turned out to be. With somewhere between 50 and 100 friends and family in attendance, Minten scored two goals, including the overtime winner, to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 win over Vancouver.
“Definitely an unbelievable moment. Probably one of the coolest days of my life,” Minten told NESN after the game.
Minten almost got to have this moment last year. He was with the Toronto Maple Leafs on their road trip to Western Canada last February, but got sent back to the AHL a few days before the Vancouver leg of the trip. A month later, he got traded to the Bruins as part of the Brandon Carlo deal.
The homecoming was worth the wait. While Minten has been good all season as a 21-year-old rookie center, playing in his hometown seemed to elevate his game to another level. He almost had an assist just a few minutes into the game when he sprung David Pastrnak on a breakaway with a great outlet pass, but Pastrnak was denied by Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen.
No matter. Minten would just open the scoring himself later in the first period. With the Bruins on the power play, Minten took a pass in the slot from Alex Steeves and quickly fired a shot past Lankinen for his seventh goal of the season, and his first career power-play goal.
That would have been special enough, but Minten wasn’t done. Fast forward to overtime. With the clock ticking down late in the extra session, Minten won a battle on the boards against Kiefer Sherwood before firing a pass to Pastrnak. Then he beat Sherwood to the front of the net and poked in the rebound off Pastrnak’s shot to give the Bruins their second straight win.
Minten’s calling card has always been his hockey IQ and defensive play. That’s the biggest reason he made the Bruins out of camp this season over other young players whose games aren’t as well-rounded. Boston coach Marco Sturm has said on multiple occasions that Minten is wise beyond his years.
“I think the one thing that really stands out to me is he's already a very mature kid, very professional,” Sturm reiterated before Saturday’s game. “He's only 21, but it feels like he's already been around for at least 10 years. Takes care of his body already. He's already a leader, I would say, in his own way. So, I’m very impressed. On ice, he’s pretty smart, never really gets in trouble. There’s a lot of things you can’t teach, and he has it.”
And now Minten is starting to be put in more offensive situations. For the last three games, he has centered a line with Pastrnak and Marat Khusnutdinov as Sturm has looked for ways to create a more balanced 5-on-5 attack. Sturm has also started to work Minten into Boston’s second power-play unit, turning him into a true all-situations player.
Minten has been up to the challenge. He now has four points in the last two games. He assisted on two 5-on-5 goals in Wednesday’s win over Edmonton. Then he scored on the power play and in 3-on-3 overtime Saturday.
“We actually were holding him for a long time to be on the power play, because he's still young,” Sturm said. “He's still learning. But halfway through [the season], we thought, OK, this is the right thing to do. And he's been excellent on the power play, too, and on the kill. So, he slowly becomes a man, I feel like. And there's still some room left.”