Haggs: 'We Haven't Seen The Best From Loui Eriksson'
BOSTON (CBS) - In a game Monday night without two of their best players in Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic, the Boston Bruins had one of their best performances of the season.
The hometown hockey team displayed maximum effort, went back to playing "Bruins hockey" and defeated Detroit 5-2 at TD Garden.
LISTEN: Dave Goucher, Bob Beers Recap Bruins Win
The B's came out of the gate with a purpose, scoring within minutes of the opening faceoff, and tallied a season-high 19 shots and a season-high three goals in the first period.
The Black and Gold also fired off a season-high 45 shots against Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard -- just the second time all season the B's have exceeded 40 shots on net.
It'll take an effort like that going forward, from here on out over the next 45 regular season games to climb back into the playoff race, and be the team fans thought they could be in the summertime.
LISTEN: Boston Went Back To Playing 'Bruins Hockey' Against Red Wings
The Bruins, 19-15-3, are just 5-5 in their last 10 games, but have shown some signs of life recently, and things should only improve as Zdeno Chara, David Krejci and others get back to being 100 percent healthy.
Second-year Bruin Loui Eriksson appears to be hitting his stride as well.
The 29-year-old left wing tallied two assists Monday night, and has 10 points in his last 10 games, including six goals.
That's the type of player Bruins fans thought they were getting when Tyler Seguin was shipped out of town, not the Eriksson who had his lowest scoring output since his second year in the league (not counting the 48-game lockout year), and battled concussions and their accompanying symptoms all last season.
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While he may never live up to his contract ($4.25 million cap hit), if the Bruins can get more out of Eriksson they may be in decent shape.
CSNNE's Joe Haggerty, filling in for Toucher & Rich Tuesday morning alongside 98.5 The Sports Hub's Ryan Johnston, seemed encouraged by the Loui Eriksson of late.
"I've been very critical of Loui Eriksson, but he didn't look like a loser last night," Haggerty said in response to a texter's submission.
"He's been one of, if not the Bruins best player over the past two to three weeks. He's been very good for them lately, and maybe this is the real Loui Eriksson as he gets further away from concussions. I don't think we've seen the best of Loui Eriksson, and maybe we're starting to see that. Maybe there's a useful player in there that can help them, I don't know."
Ryan Johnston is also encouraged, but needs to see it more consistently before he says Eriksson's turned a corner. Eriksson, a former second round pick (33rd overall), is on pace for 51 points and 20 goals this season.
Listen below for the full conversation:
With a win on New Year's Eve against Toronto, now sitting just two points ahead of the Bruins in the Atlantic Division, Boston can jump back into the playoffs.
Hear every game of the 2014-15 Boston Bruins season on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the Boston Bruins. Pregame coverage with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers begins 30 minutes prior to every game!
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