At the start of the season, Boston Bruins defensemen Torey Krug and Adam McQuaid told the media that they thought they were ready to take on more responsibility. They both thought they could do more and felt they were ready to play top-four minutes on the blueline. While McQuaid still appears to be struggling, Torey Krug has proven that he’s more the ready to move up full-time.
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Torey Krug broke his sixteen game scoreless slump with the B’s insurance goal against the Detroit Red Wings. It’s his first goal of the season, but the 24-year old American has been contributing all season for the Black and Gold. In the sixteen games played so far, his 11 points are good enough to have him tied for fourth in overall scoring. He’s back on the plus side (+1), and he’s second on the team for shots on goal with 44 (behind Brad Marchand)
Krug’s goal brought a moment of emotional relief for him before he joined his team in a post-goal hug. His goal and five shots on the net performance was good enough to win him Third Star of the Game honors.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Krug of his first goal of the season. “I wasn’t really too worried about it, especially with a few more minutes being played. My number one job is always defense, and that’s been good so far. I can always improve, but it’s nice to get the first one.”
Torey Krug had to shoulder a lot of responsibility when the Bruins were without the services of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg. Now that both of the veteran blueliners have returned, Krug won’t have to play as many minutes as he was early in the season. Krug has been solid throughout the season (the bad game against the Avalanche not withstanding), and head coach Claude Julien knows how much effort the Michigan-native puts into his game.
Puck Prose
“If he would’ve missed that one, he would’ve been in trouble, right?” said Claude Julien after the Red Wings game. “So March did all the work on that one, but Torey did a great job of following up. Give him credit, he followed up on the play and scored.
“But has been good. He’s had his fair share of tough games like everybody else, so I don’t think he’s exempt from anything here, from our record and what we say about our team. Where we feel if we had more consistency, we might have a better record. We’ve just got to keep working on it, and individuals have to keep working on their game. Tonight I thought played really well.”
Torey Krug was top-four by default at the beginning of the season. He’s proven that he deserves to remain there.