DeBrusk Gets It Done
Jake DeBrusk knows one thing for sure: he’s never surpassing his father in one particular category.
“I’ll never catch him in penalty minutes,” DeBrusk quipped. “We always joke about that.”
“That’s the only thing I’ll ever have on you,” Lou, who racked up 1,161 career PIMs, responded. “You’ve got everything else.”
The winger did, however, move past Lou – a former NHL enforcer, who spent 11 seasons in the league with Edmonton, Tampa, Phoenix, and Chicago – in the games category on Wednesday night as he suited up for his 402nd career contest, one more than his dad who was in the stands to witness it.
“It was pretty surreal,” said Jake. “He actually brought it up when he first came for the Dads Trip. I didn’t even know. It’s something you think about as a kid…I always looked up to him and just wanted to be like my dad. It was kind of cool to follow in his footsteps and now surpass him hopefully for a couple more games here. It’s one of those things that it’s a big picture moment. Something in the family that I have bragging rights for.”
DeBrusk also got his father a goal as he extended the Bruins’ lead to 3-1 with his second of the year just 3:05 after Beecher’s tally. Matt Poitras started things when he chipped the puck into the corner where DeBrusk then corralled it after winning a battle with help from his centerman.
After his first shot was denied by Bobrovsky, DeBrusk followed his rebound and jammed home his second attempt.
“It was just a good battle by Potsy,” said DeBrusk, whose celebration was clearly one of relief after having gone seven games without a goal. “I think we 2-on-1’d it, chip and chase. I just looked at the puck and it was there and nobody was in front. I just tried to jam it in. It was really nice to see that one go in. It was a nice feeling and a good time for us to score.”
Montgomery said he was pleased with DeBrusk’s game on Monday night in Tampa, too.
“I thought the last two games he’s played really well,” said Montgomery. “I thought today, it was good to see him stick with it. You know it’s wearing on him. To get a big goal like that to put us up by two is the nice cushion we needed going into the third.”
Despite his offensive struggles, DeBrusk said “it’s been fun to be around the rink” as the Bruins carry a 14-1-3 record into Thanksgiving.
“We’ve only lost one in regulation so anytime that you play this amount of games and have that means that we’re doing something right,” said DeBrusk. “There’s a lot of guys that are contributing in different ways. Need that to win. And our goaltending’s been really solid as well, bailed us out in a lot of games.
“Definitely room for improvement on different sides of things…it was nice to have the dads trip here and get some laughs from [dad] .”
