Since being eliminated from playoff contention, it's been a complete circus of a week for the New York Rangers. When the NHL Department of Player Safety merely fined Capitals forward Tom Wilson for a sequence of events rather than suspending him, the Rangers issued an official statement expressing their extreme displeasure with the league and called for the firing of the head of player safety, George Parros.
Not only is Parros' job secure, but the league in return fined the Rangers $250,000 for their unprofessional statement. Oh, and the Rangers also fired team president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton after playing major roles in the team's current and promising rebuild.
Needless to say, the Blueshirts are ready for the season to end already — but first, they have a back-to-back with the playoff-bound Bruins, who appear poised for a deep run in the postseason.
Patrice Bergeron, Charlie McAvoy, Jake DeBrusk and Brandon Carlo scored for the Bruins, while Jeremy Swayman improved to 7-2-0, earning his second shutout of the season with 15 saves.
Here are three key takeaways from a 4-0 Boston win.
1. DeBrusk gets rewarded
Prior to Thursday night's meeting with the Rangers, it's been a season to forget for Jake DeBrusk. The speedy, talented winger has been in regression all season and as a result has found himself down the depth chart after being in the Bruins' top-six for the better part of three seasons.
In his pregame media availability, DeBrusk seemed emotional when mentioning that hockey isn't fun when struggling, which just goes to show how tough this season has been for him mentally.
Scoring, however, isn't the only remedy to regain confidence. It starts with playing the right way and capitalizing on earned scoring chances. That's exactly the approach DeBrusk took against the Rangers. His work ethic and strong compete level was evident all game long even before scoring his fifth goal of the year.
Filling in for Charlie Coyle on a line with Sean Kuraly and Nick Ritchie, DeBrusk played on his toes, was engaged physically and hard on loose puck battles.
While being unable to finish off a few chances in the first period, DeBrusk finally got the monkey off his back in the second period when a good defensive stick from Taylor Hall enabled David Krejci to find DeBrusk with an indirect pass through the neutral zone. Barely staying onside, DeBrusk collected Krejci's pass and broke in all alone before finishing a soft, finesse shot upstairs to give Boston a 3-0 lead.
With the postseason on the horizon, it would best serve DeBrusk to look forward to a fresh start and look forward to collecting points when it matters most.
2. Marchand continues to climb scoring ranks
While it's difficult to imagine the Bruins succeeding without the services of Patrice Bergeron or Charlie McAvoy, Brad Marchand has made his case for team MVP this season and it would be hard to argue otherwise.
After collecting two more assists in Thursday's win against the Rangers, Marchand now ranks third in the NHL with 65 points in 51 games played— the only two players ahead of him are Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers.
Following an offseason surgery, Marchand claimed that he hadn't played at 100 percent health in a few seasons — well, now at full health, Marchand is backing up his claim by averaging 1.27 points per game.
He is relied upon in all situations for the Bruins and excels in doing so — up a goal, down a goal, even-strength, power play, penalty kill -- and is always emotionally engaged.
Marchand's career began as a sporadic fourth-liner between 2009-2010, and has evolved into one of the elite hockey players in the world at both ends of the ice. Truly amazing.
3. Goals in three straight for the captain
It's great news for the Bruins, and bad news for the rest of the league that Patrice Bergeron is really starting to heat up just before the playoffs. Of course Bergeron is always productive both on and off the score sheet, but even moreso in the last handful of games.
Whether it's a matter of the top line turning their game up a notch as they gear up for the postseason, or if the Bruins' newfound offensive depth is forcing opponents to shift some of their focus elsewhere, the fact of the matter is that Marchand and Bergeron are in sync — thinking and executing at an elite level.
For the second time in the last three games, Bergeron was the beneficiary of a beautiful setup from Marchand beneath the goal line.
Thursday night against the Rangers, Bergeron scored his 22nd goal of the season in the first period to jumpstart the Bruins to a 1-0 lead.
The last leaf to fall for the top line before the postseason is David Pastrnak. Pastrnak has been fighting it offensively the last little while, but with his linemates finding the back of the net, one has to think it's only a matter of time before Pastrnak begins to get hot and show why he is the best true goal scorer on the team and one of the best in the league.
Once the entire top line is doing damage on the score sheet, and with the second line being as dominant as they've been, the Bruins have the potential to be one of the scariest offensive teams in the playoffs.
