Trent Frederic didn’t have the coaching camp he would have appreciated. The identical goes for brand new coach Jim Montgomery, who selected A.J. Greer to start out at left wing on the third line over Frederic within the season opener.
But hockey being what it’s, Frederic didn’t have to attend lengthy for a spot to open up. When Jake DeBrusk went down with an higher physique damage within the season opener in Washington on Wednesday, it opened up a spot within the lineup for Saturday’s dwelling opener towards the Arizona Coyotes.
Craig Smith bumped as much as skate in DeBrusk’s spot with Patrice Bergeron, Greer moved over to play on the suitable facet with Charlie Coyle and Frederic was set to slip into the left wing spot.
Frederic has admitted that he was a little bit too involved with making errors within the preseason, taking part in too conservatively. As a consequence, he was a step behind.
“I felt like I was chasing a little bit,” mentioned Frederic.
Montgomery had simply two directives for him going into Saturday evening – hunt and hit.
“For a lot of players when they’re thinking too much, you try and give them one or two things to think about,” mentioned Montgomery after the B’s non-compulsory morning skate on the Garden. “And for him, I just told him to hunt and hit. Go hunting out there. That kind of mindset gets you on your toes, gets your feet moving. Usually you impact the game. And he’s had his best practices here the last three practices in a row, so I’m excited to see how he hunts and hits tonight.”
For Frederic, taking part in with Coyle represents a consolation zone of kinds. The 24-year-old performed one of the best hockey of his younger profession within the second half of final season when he was taking part in with Coyle and Smith.
“I’m used to playing with Chuck. We’re good friends. He makes it easy, he’s a good communicator. He’s easy to play with,” mentioned Frederic.
He’s obtained way more restricted expertise with Greer, however they did play collectively within the preseason.
“I had fun,” mentioned Frederic. “He’s fast and he slashes across nice. He’s a left winger, so I know he’s coming across, which makes it easier. He’s a good guy. He’s talking a lot too, so it makes it easy.”…
Jack Studnicka remains to be ready for his alternative, however it might not be for for much longer. Montgomery couldn’t say when he’d be stepping into, however he thinks he’ll see some motion within the subsequent week or so.
“There is a plan,” mentioned Montgomery. “It’s all going to be dependent on how the guys in the lineup are playing. If guys are playing well, it’s hard to make changes. But we do have three in four nights coming up, so I expect him to get in a game.”
Studnicka had a great coaching camp proper up till the ultimate preseason sport when he absorbed a minus-4 within the 5-3 loss towards the Devils. Because he required waivers to be despatched down, and his low cost contract ($762,000 for the following two years) making him a great candidate to be scooped up, the B’s didn’t attempt to sneak him by way of like they did with their higher-priced veterans Nick Foligno and Mike Reilly. But with Studnicka nonetheless simply 23, the B’s wouldn’t need him to languish within the press field for too lengthy…
Montgomery revealed that he’s been exhibiting a sure clip of Brad Marchand battling Sidney Crosby in an offseason exercise to indicate younger gamers tips on how to defend the puck. The follow goes again to when he was teaching on the University of Denver.
“That’s how you protect pucks. This is how you compete,” mentioned Montgomery of his message to younger gamers. “If you have the luxury of having someone like 63, he’s great at protecting pucks, and gets inside position on people. There’s an art to it and there’s a level of compete to it. And once you learn how to do it, I think people get better and better. Charlie Coyle’s really good at it, so we have really good examples on our team.”…
Montgomery mirrored once more on getting the sport puck from the season opener in Washington, which was introduced to him by captain Patrice Bergeron. There have been loads of good candidates to obtain it.
“(Jakub) Zboril was coming back from reconstructive knee surgery, we had (Jakub) Lauko playing his first game, Linus (Ullmark) was great in net,” mentioned Montgomery. “There were a lot of guys who could have gotten it and the fact that they made me feel a part of it right away, because they knew it was my first win leading the Bruins, it meant a lot to me. It makes you feel good.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com