Boston Bruins Ryan Spooner And Matt Beleskey Rise
Between center Ryan Spooner’s speed and left wing Matt Beleskey’s net front presence, the pair have developed some good chemistry playing together in the absence of injured center David Krejci.
While Krejci nears a return and could play as early as this week, it may be difficult to separate the pair. Their individual strengths and quick reads off one another was on full display in Friday night’s 4-1 win in Buffalo as they each scored a goal and had multiple point games.
Puck Prose
Both assisted on the game-winner as Beleskey provided the screen on Zdeno Chara’s point blast while Spooner kept the puck alive. Earlier Beleskey scored his own goal by following a speeding Spooner into the zone and smacking in a juicy rebound left in the wake of the youngster’s net drive. Spooner later scored using his speed down the wing before cutting back sharply to throw the puck on net and catch the goalie off-guard as Beleskey trailed to provide key disruption in front. They put up five points by night’s end, and linemate Loui Erifksson added two assists.
Spooner has 11 points in the 9 games since taking over Krejci’s line, while setting career highs in goals with 10 and assists with 23 over 44 games. His 33 points are tied for third on the team with Krejci.
“He’s been a real good asset for us, or a real good replacement for David Krejci since he’s been down,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said of Spooner on the Bruins website. “He’s been really skating well, making things happen, backchecking, so really happy with the way that he’s taken on — I guess, that responsibility of losing David and coming in and giving us a second line that has been pretty good offensively.”
While Spooner uses speed and vision to create plays and find the open man and also puts an increasing number of shots on net (91 this year), Beleskey pounds the corners, grinds the puck out, cycles it in the zone and crashes the goalmouth to provide screens or fight for rebounds. He also lays heavy hits and leads the team with 150 while ranking 9th overall in the league (just ahead of old friend Milan Lucic).
“We need guys like that,” Julien added of Beleskey. “On the team you need all kinds of players and he’s one of those guys that saw him as a real gritty player, not afraid to go to the dirty areas and in front of the net and battling and being able to find those loose pucks.”
The B’s were hoping Beleskey might also match the career-high 22 goals he put up last year in just 65 games for Anaheim and although he’s a little off that pace with 8 goals in 42 games, his 22 points are up a bit from the 32 he finished with last season. Coupled with the other aspects of the game he brings, the B’s have to be pleased with his efforts so far. He’s also second behind Brad Marchand in plus/minus at +10.
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“He’s been a good player,” Julien continued. “I don’t know if people expected more productivity out of him or what, but he’s given us the physicality that we need up front on forechecks and again, in dirty areas, so it’s nice to see him get rewarded every once in a while.”
It presents an interesting lineup dilemma for Julien with Krejci’s imminent return. In the second half of last season, Spooner and skilled, quick right wing David Pastrnak found great chemistry with the bruising Lucic as their left wing. It would be great to see something similar with Beleskey staying as Spooner’s wingman and Pastrnak potentially joining the duo once he returns from an upper body injury that has kept him out three games.
Listed as day to day, Pastrnak will bring another element the B’s badly need: drawing penalties. The B’s rank second to last in the league in that category so are unable to leverage their NHL-best powerplay as much as they’d like. Pastrnak led the team in penalties drawn prior to his foot injury that kept him out an extended period earlier in the season.
Whether Beleskey is instead moved back with Krejci and Pastrnak lined up on center Patrice Bergeron’s line, one thing is certain regardless of how lines shake out. Spooner’s continued emergence and Beleskey’s high battle coupled with the returns of Krejci and Pastrnak should provide the B’s with three lines of solid scoring threats.
Having three playmaking centers should help invigorate B’s wings like Frank Vatrano or Brett Connolly, who have gone cold, and the lukewarm Jimmy Hayes. Eriksson also could have several more goals had he finished off more of the many prime scoring opportunities he gets.
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With Krejci’s return and the 4th line of Max Talbot, Zac Rinaldo and Landon Ferraro generating scoring opportunities (even if not actually scoring), Joonas Kemppainen may become a candidate for a healthy scratch. He generated zero offense in a golden chance to center the third line during Krejci’s absence and was on the ice for several goals bringing his plus/minus down to -9, and really doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table other than being decent at faceoffs (51.8% according to faceoffs.net). Talbot meanwhile is 50% on the year and seems to bring a little more energy and offense, although their numbers are comparable (Kemppainen has 3 points in 31 games and Talbot 4 points in 23).
Next: David Krejci and David Patrnak Travel With Boston To Montreal
The B’s alternatively have offensive options in Providence like speedy Austin Czarnik if the 4th line doesn’t start chipping in goals. Although the B’s managed to get a couple hard-fought wins against the sub-.500 Sabres and Maple Leafs the last couple games, they will need all four lines contributing to beat the rival Canadiens Tuesday and other swift elite teams in the weeks to come.