In his first taste of Stanley Cup Playoffs, Bruins’ Tyler Bertuzzi proves his game is built for the postseason
"He's just one of those guys you hate to play against. He just brings it every night."
Bruins Playoffs:
There’s a cruel irony in Tyler Bertuzzi’s extended purgatory from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The 28-year-old winger has logged seven seasons and 326 total games in the NHL ranks. Winning a Calder Cup in 2017 didn’t translate to future success at the next level, with the Red Wings mired in mediocrity throughout Bertuzzi’s lengthy tenure with the franchise.
But Bertuzzi’s extended absence from the postseason is not an indictment of his own play. After all, the pugnacious skater’s on-ice DNA is catered perfectly for the frenzied fracas set to play out over the next eight weeks.
“He’s a competitor,” Brad Marchand said of Bertuzzi following Boston’s Game 1 win over the Panthers on Monday. “He battles extremely hard.
“I don’t think there are any question marks about him. … He’s just one of those guys you hate to play against. He just brings it every night. His compete level is through the roof.”
Bertuzzi checked off plenty of boxes in his goal of ingratiating oneself to a raucous Garden crowd in his postseason debut.
He dropped both Radko Gudas and Carter Verhaeghe with a pair of thunderous checks, bringing close to 18,000 out of their seats on Causeway.
Following in the footsteps of other playoff antagonists draped in black-and-gold sweaters, he plucked Nick Cousins’ stick from his grasp and deposited it into Boston’s bench — much to the latter’s dismay.
“It’s [the] playoffs,” Bertuzzi said of his on-ice larceny. “There’s gonna be some stupid things that happen. And that was one of them.”
Bertuzzi’s sandpaper style of play is welcomed this time of year.
But the winger’s propensity to capitalize in Grade-A ice might be his greatest lift to a Bruins team previously thwarted by stagnant scoring.
Bringing the puck into interior ice was tabbed as a necessary mandate by Cam Neely and Boston’s front office this season.
It was an objective spurred by past failures, with promising playoff runs sunk against squads like the Blues, Lightning, and Hurricanes due to a reliance on quantity over quality in shot generation.
“That’s where you win hockey games,” Neely said on Sunday. “ It’s tough to win on the perimeter and our group has done a really good job of battling for that inside ice.”
Bertuzzi’s efforts down low usually don’t make highlight reels.
But every tip, jam or screen can make all the difference when every inch of available ice is conceded after a whack of a stick and a sturdy shove by the opposition.
It was Bertuzzi’s continued pestering of Florida netminder Alex Lyon that generated Jake DeBrusk’s first goal of the 2023 playoffs. With Lyon drawn from his doorstep by Bertuzzi’s presence, DeBrusk pounced on a loose puck and knocked it home to give Boston a 3-1 lead.
But Bertuzzi’s more than just a fly in the ointment near the crease, nor is he a netfront regular who relies on heft to garner an inside edge against a goalie.
Bertuzzi’s first of two helpers on Monday was the byproduct of crafting something out of nothing with little time and space to operate.
Corralling a second-chance puck off the mask of Lyon, Bertuzzi didn’t settle for a fruitless second-chance bid — instead dishing a behind-the-back feed to David Pastrnak for a power-play wrister into twine.
“He has real elite poise in and around the net,” Jim Montgomery said of Bertuzzi. “A lot of guys would have taken that and tried to stuff it in the net on the backhand, and he just pops it over for an empty-net goal.”
Bertuzzi’s ability to dice defenses down low has been evident since Boston dealt for him back on March 2.
Of the 15 Bruins with at least 250 minutes of 5v5 reps this season, Bertuzzi ranks first in primary assists per 60 minutes at 1.48. Boston is generating 14.8 high-danger chances per 60 minutes when Bertuzzi is on the ice. Only Patrice Bergeron, DeBrusk, and Marchand are generating more among Boston’s forwards.
High-danger chances are logged when pucks are fired in from the low slot or other areas that put opposing netminders under duress. They tend to come in bunches when Bertuzzi hops over the boards.
“When we acquired him — we thought he was a guy that was made for the playoffs. … He just kept making plays,” Montgomery said of Bertuzzi. “Like the puck seems to follow him and he makes plays and makes really good decisions with it.”
The Bruins have the personnel in place to pepper goalies with one-time blasts on the power play. Odd-man rushes conducted by speedsters like Taylor Hall should continue against a flimsy Florida backline in the coming weeks.
But few teams can rely on track meets or an array of dekes and dangles to consistently generate offense, not during an extended postseason push.
If Boston is going to land punches against stingier defenses, it’s going to need players to embrace the punishment that awaits near the blue paint.
It seems they have just the guy in Bertuzzi — a scrapper keen on carrying his first Cup run far beyond April and May.
“This is everyone’s dream when you play in the NHL, is to chase this trophy,” Bertuzzi said. “So you can’t take these moments for granted.”
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