Boston Bruins: Top 3 heroes against Winnipeg Jets

2. Jake DeBrusk

All things equal, Jake DeBrusk has been stuck in a rut this season. Even after this game, he’s still only managed 24 points in 40 games. While that does put him right on track to match his previous season’s totals, we have always held out the hope that there’s more to him.

The reason for that level of expectation was plain to see against the Winnipeg Jets; DeBrusk put away 2 goals (including the game-winning goal) as well as notching an assist. He was very much in-form and could easily have grabbed a hat-trick with a little more luck and a tiny bit more ice-time!

The sheer fact that coming into the game he’d managed just 1 point in his last 4 games makes a three-point night stand-out just that little bit more.

His unassisted effort late in the second period was particularly impressive, forcing a Jets turnover by pinching on the sidewall and speeding off on the break away, before going top-shelf past Laurent Brossoit in the Winnipeg net:

His game-winner, whilst impressive in it’s own right, wasn’t quite on the same level, though it did show an impressive amount of hand-eye coordination for him to deflect Charlie McAvoy‘s shot from the point home:

All in all, this was exactly the kind of heroic performance that DeBrusk needed. Hopefully he finds his feet once more and can use this three-point outing as fuel to push on to bigger and better things in the second half of this campaign.