For the Bruins, there are advantages to securing a playoff spot and residential ice so early on this season. One has been the power to relaxation a few of their older gamers the final couple of weekends on the second half of back-to-backs. The different has been he capacity to take a peek into the longer term past this magical season.
Two Sunday’s in the past, the B’s sat David Krejci in Buffalo and final Sunday in Carolina, it was Patrice Bergeron’s flip to relaxation the aching physique.
Both occasions, Pavel Zacha, anticipated to be moved to the center at any time when Krejci and Bergeron retire, has jumped into the middle spot and performed nicely within the two victories.
Coach Jim Montgomery has appreciated what he’s seen.
“I think it’s been very encouraging. The Carolina game is probably the best 200-foot game he’s had,” mentioned Montgomery after Tuesday’s morning skate. “He’s had a lot of games where he’s helped us at center. It’s pretty amazing how seamlessly he’s gone from left wing to right wing to center and he just keeps building our team game. I think he’s getting more comfortable in taking away time and space as the center. It’s a lot of work within the D-zone coverage for our centers and he seems to be playing a lot faster there, which is encouraging. His ability to make plays through the middle of the ice is high end. He can make backhand sauce plays, forehand, so his ability to penetrate middle ice has always been something that we’ve really liked about his game.”
In these final two video games as centerman, Zacha has additionally improved on his attracts. Against Buffalo, he gained 5 of seven and towards Carolina, he took six of eight.
“I’ve felt good, especially the last game, getting the opportunity to play center. That’s something I feel comfortable coming back to, but you need practice,” mentioned Zacha. “That’s why I try to take faceoffs with (Tomas) Nosek and some of the guys in between games just in case I get pulled there again. You never know what’s going to happen in the playoffs. I want to be ready just in case. The couple of games I had played at center (earlier in the year when Krejci was out) my faceoffs weren’t good enough so I wanted to focus on that. And I just like getting the pucks in the middle of the ice, creating the chances there. It was good. I hadn’t played center in a while.”
The Carolina sport was an enormous enhance to the arrogance for Zacha. They had left behind Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Hampus Lindholm, however nonetheless managed to drag out a shootout win.
“We had big motivation not to let Bergy and Marchy down, to just keep the streak going (they’d won seven straight going into Tuesday’s game against Nashville) and to feel good about our team and ourselves,” mentioned Zacha. “When you have players like that missing, you’re going to feel it somewhere. You could see it a little bit in the third period. We didn’t play the way we wanted to, but it was something that as a team we did a good job overall. For me as an opportunity, it was good to show that I could play the minutes there against a pretty good team in the league, too. It was like a playoff game, too, so I was happy that we played that after playing a few teams that were out of he playoffs. Playing Carolina on a back-to-back…you’re going to be tired in the playoffs. And I haven’t had that much experience with playoff hockey in my career. That’s something that I need to get better at and feel comfortable in.”
It can be a troublesome transition for the B’s at any time when Bergeron and Krejci and do resolve to retire. They’ve given the membership an incredible 1-2 punch down the center for for the higher a part of 15 years. But the play of Zacha has been promising.
“That’s why we continue to get looks at it,” mentioned Montgomery. “If it’s next year or the year after when he has to be a full-time center for us, he’s comfortable in the position and then he knows, this is where I am moving forward and he’s had success there. It’s nothing but good for the short-term and long-term.”….
With the Predators on the town, Montgomery made a degree of providing his condolences to the Nashville neighborhood within the wake of the horrific faculty capturing there on Monday. Nashville coach John Hynes addressed it on the Garden.
“Obviously there was a really sad situation in Nashville with the Covenant School, and our team and I and the organization certainly were affected by it, as well as the Nashville community,” Hynes advised reporters on the Garden. “Personally as a parent, I have three daughters that all go to school and it’s just an unfortunate situation. I really thank the police officers that went in in quick order and took care of the situation. So our thoughts and prayers from our team (go out) to the Covenant School and all the families that are affected. We certainly ave them in our thoughts.”…
Nick Foligno, out since struggling a leg harm in Calgary on February 28, joined the staff for the morning skate, carrying a pink non-contact jersey.
“It’s just great to have him out there,” mentioned Montgomery. “He just brings so much energy, and positive energy to the group, always,. And you could see hat he was excited to be back out with the group. It’s good. He’s starting to make progress toward being an option again.”…
Jakob Lauko, who left Sunday’s sport in Carolina after crashing exhausting into the boards, didn’t skate on Tuesday. Montgomery mentioned he’s day-to-day with an higher physique harm.
“It’s nothing that a 23-year-old won’t get over in due time,” mentioned Montgomery, noting it was Lauko’s birthday on Tuesday.
Source: www.bostonherald.com