Matt Grzelcyk a Bright Spot for Inconsistent Bruins
Already 27 games into a shortened 56-game season, the Boston Bruins have experienced it all. After securing at least a point in 12 of their first 13 games, the Bruins have gone 5-7-3 in their last 15 contests. But through it all there has been one consistent factor and that is the play of defenseman Matt Grzelcyk.
In 14 games so far this season, Grzelcyk, a Charlestown native, has tallied eight points. Over the last two games, he has fired 11 shots on goal including one that found the back of the net in Monday night’s 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Now these aren’t exactly eye-popping numbers but scoring isn’t the only thing the Bruins expect out of Grzelcyk. Along with being the quarterback on the top power play unit, quick puck movement and strong defensive zone breakouts is what Grzelcyk is paid to do. Oftentimes, these two aspects of his game go hand-in-hand like they did in the first period of last Thursday’s 4-0 win over the New York Rangers:
I think it’s safe to say that I have watched that sequence no less than 50 times because, as the caption says, that play is just ridiculous. When he corrals the puck and looks as if he is about to skate around his own net to initiate a breakout, he stops on a dime, evades two Rangers forecheckers and dishes a sweet little feed to David Krejci all in one motion. This eventually leads to a shot on goal for the Bruins on the other end. There are only a handful of defenders in the NHL who have the quickness and awareness to make that kind of play.
With injuries to Brandon Carlo, Jeremy Lauzon and pretty much everyone else on the Bruins’ blue line, Grzelcyk has found himself alongside Charlie McAvoy on the top defensive pair as the black and gold look to generate more offense. It has already paid dividends.
According to Natural Stat Trick, out of all defensive pairings in the NHL that have logged at least 98 minutes of ice time together, Grzelcyk and McAvoy rank first in Corsi For Percentage (63.84), Fenwick For Percentage (66.20) and shots for percentage (72.83), and are second in goals for percentage (80). It looks as if the two may have rekindled some of the chemistry they had when they played together at Boston University during the 2015-16 season.
Although Grzelcyk likely won’t ever be a Norris Trophy candidate as one of the league’s top defensemen, he has solidified himself as a top-four defenseman on the Bruins who can do it all at both ends of the ice. With injuries piling up for Boston’s defensive unit, Grzelcyk’s services will be needed now more than ever.
