Kalman: After First Goal, Bruins Need Krug To Contribute More In Months Ahead
By Matt Kalman, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- For those who weren't inclined to devote their Thursday night to watching the Bruins take on the Columbus Blue Jackets, you missed a momentous occasion.
Bruins defenseman Torey Krug scored a goal.
Krug scored 26 goals combined in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. But lately any time he's scored a goal it's seemed like a holiday. Krug's score against the Blue Jackets in a 5-2 win was his first in 14 games this season. His scoring drought dated back to the next-to-last game of last season, when he ended a 54-game drought with a goal against the Detroit Red Wings.
Krug scored four goals in 81 games last season.
Needless to say, Krug's goal (which deflected off Columbus forward Scott Hartnell) was a relief to the diminutive defenseman.
"Yeah it was a good feeling," he said after the Bruins won their last home game before a three-game road trip, which starts against Arizona on Saturday. "Obviously individually you want to get out of that little cold streak you have and it's nice to get on the board. But I think it was an important goal for the game."
For Krug and the Bruins' sake, there better be more of those good feelings in the weeks and months ahead. It may be unfair to expect a defenseman to carry a large load of the offense, but that's what Krug is on the Bruins' roster to do. Although he's improved defensively every years he's been in the NHL, the 5-foot-9, 186-pound blueliner has a ceiling he may have already hit in terms of being able to keep opponents off the scoreboard.
Krug's not a player who's expected to just provide offense. But that's his No. 1 attribute and it's what allows the Bruins to be able to tolerate any deficiencies in his game.
Despite his inability to find the back of the net much last season, Krug made strides with a career-high 40 assists and 44 points. He also set career bests in shots (244) and ice time (21:37 per game). He earned the four-year, $21 million contract the Bruins gave him over the summer, especially considering he played the loyal soldier and accepted one-year contracts the prior two seasons.
He's had a couple of road blocks at the outset of this season. Most obviously was the offseason shoulder surgery, which repaired an injury that might've hampered his production last season. He acknowledged that his offseason training was affected and he might've concentrated on rehabilitating the shoulder to the detriment of other training. Although he hasn't seemed tentative and hasn't admitted to any mental issues, the shoulder injury could very well have been at least in the back of his mind once he went from rehab to practices to actual games against opponents that want to exact physical punishment.
Krug might have also been slowed by the Bruins' tweaks to their system. Offensively, he's been all right using his vision and his knowledge of when to join the attack. But in the defensive zone, where he has to be more creative than bigger, stronger defensemen, the strategy of being more aggressive down low may have caused his early season struggles. He seems to be adapting and his teammates also seem to be supporting him better.
The Bruins power play, which only recently woke up from its offseason hibernation, has also skewed Krug's numbers. He deservedly receives a fair share of the blame for those struggles but when Krug's power-play partners begin burying the puck more, his statistics will increase.
Krug has been playing much better at both ends of the rink for a couple of weeks. He credits the Bruins' 1-0 road win against his hometown Red Wings with getting him on track.
"Maybe it was going home and playing in front of friends and family and I always like playing against that team for whatever reason," Krug said. "So I think that was a turning point. My game's getting better. Obviously you can always improve, not getting the statistical output that maybe sometimes you think you deserve. But just got to keep your head down and working through it."
Coach Claude Julien has given Krug similar ice time this season compared to last season and is encouraged by Krug's recent improved play. In an ideal world down the road, when the Bruins are deeper on the back end, Krug might see that ice time cut a bit so that he can be more effective and produce a little more.
For now, Krug is a top-four defenseman on an imperfect defense corps. His shots per game average is on par to surpass last season and he's beginning to duplicate his defensive play from last season, when he was able to at least neutralize opponents when the Bruins got the right matchups.
It may seem odd to say about a defenseman, but the Bruins won't be able to live with Krug playing regularly if he scores just four goals again. If his goal Thursday isn't the start of a more productive season, he might not be around when the Bruins feature the best defense corps they can put around him.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @MattKalman.
