Bruins’ weekly stars: David Krejci is playing his best hockey
For all the concerns of the Bruins’ performance without Zdeno Chara prior to his lower body injury, the team hasn’t done all that poorly without their 6-foot-9 defenseman. Despite losses in their first two games without Chara, the Black and Gold have notched points in four consecutive games, including Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Having practiced with the team before their trip to Buffalo, Chara is inching closer to returning to the Bruins’ lineup for the first time in two weeks. Here’s a look at which Bruins shined brightest without their captain in the latest edition of Weekly 3 Stars.
David Krejci
Slowly but surely, David Krejci is starting to find his groove.
It took him awhile to recover from off-season shoulder surgery, but Krejci is arguably playing his best hockey of the season. The Czech forward has a point in three of his last four games tallying two goals and one assist in that span.
Tuesday night might have been Krejci’s best performance of the season as he was relentless in puck pursuit and creating plays offensively and started the Bruins’ third period comeback in Philadelphia with his third goal of the season. He ended the week with a goal against the Sabres to give the Black and Gold a 1-0 first period lead.
As they struggle to find the back of the net, the Bruins are at least getting some encouraging signs from Krejci. They’re certainly going to need that as they try to find scoring depth with their four lines.
Anton Khudobin
For the first time this year, a goaltender other than Tuukka Rask came away victorious. It took to the first of December to make that happen, but Khudobin will take it.
Since returning from his conditioning stint in Providence, Khudobin, who missed nearly one month of action due to an upper-body injury, has provided stability behind Rask. Six nights after a solid performance against the Flames in a losing effort, the Russian netminder played his best game of the season against the Hurricanes and came through with some clutch stops on breakaways and odd-man rushes – including a 4-on-0 chance – on a night where the Bruins came out flat through the first two periods.
With two good outings under his belt, the Bruins are hoping the stability of their No. 2 goaltender continues.
Bruins defense
Without Chara, the Bruins defense was put in a tough spot to begin the week against two of the highest scoring teams in the league. They held their own on both occasions.
What’s impressive aside from doing this without Chara? Against the Lightning, the Bruins were only five defensemen deep after John-Michael Liles suffered a concussion in a brutal collision with the boards. Despite double shifting their blue-liners for a good 50-55 minutes, the Bruins kept the high-octane Bolts’ offense in check and limited their second chance opportunities in their 4-1 victory. Two nights later against the second highest scoring team in the league, the Bruins held the Flyers to 21 shots on goal on a night where the Black and Gold dominated puck possession.
Sure there were some breakdowns that led to odd man rushes against the Hurricanes and Sabres to close out the week, but the Bruins’ D held the fort for the most part. Even when they allowed 35 shots against Jack Eichel and the Sabres, the B’s blue-liners limited Buffalo in its second chance opportunities during a tight Atlantic Division matchup.
In six games without Chara, the Bruins have allowed 11 goals. What was supposed to be the team’s Achilles heel, the Bruins D hasn’t turned out to be all that bad in the early going as they’ve kept their team afloat in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
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