In a consistently inconsistent season, especially at home, the one constant has been the play of Boston Bruins’ centerman David Krejci. Krejci may be one of the most underrated players in the NHL. During the Bruins’ historic Stanley Cup victory in 2011, Krejci led not only the Bruins, but all players, in playoff scoring with 12 goals and 23 points. To prove that it wasn’t a fluke, he led all players in playoff scoring again in 2013, with 17 assists and 26 points. However, despite all of his playoff success, Krejci is never mentioned in the same breath as the NHL’s elite players. He’s the Rodney Dangerfield of hockey; he gets no respect.
Going into Thursday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild, Krejci having scored 5 points in his last 5 games, including 3 in his last 2, was 8th in the league in scoring, with 20 points. Not only is Krejci a vital part of the Bruins’ offense, he also plays an important role on their special teams. He helps quarterback the number one power play in the league. The Bruins have converted on 20 of the 58 opportunities they’ve had this year. Krejci, a two-way specialist, is also a constant on the penalty kill.
The Bruins and Krejci beat Minnesota by a score of 4-2. Bruins’ forward Loui Eriksson had a hat trick for the home team and Krejci ended up assisting on two of Eriksson’s three goals, extending his point streak to 5 in his last 3 games.
After the game Eriksson, had this to say about his line being able to build chemistry as the game went on,” I think we’re finding each other more and more now, Krech [David Krejci] and me, and today he made some good passes and we were able to score some goals. It was definitely nice.” Krejci assisted on two of Erikkson’s three goals.
Bruins’ coach Claude Julien commented on tonight’s win being the turnaround he hoped for after Tuesday’s loss, “Yeah, it was better tonight. I think all the things we talked about were better. We know we can score goals. I think it’s about keeping them out of our own net, and our penalty kill was good tonight, and our defensive play was good as well.”
Krejci and the Bruins will try and win back to back home games for the first time this season as they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs this Saturday night.
