Jack Studnicka gets his chance with Bruins shorthanded

MONTREAL — One of the Bruins most highly touted prospects got his first shot at the NHL on Tuesday night.

With Patrice Bergeron out for the duration of the Bruins’ quick trip to Canada, Jack Studnicka made his NHL regular season debut in Montreal.

The Providence Bruins’ leading scorer had lofty expectations placed on him, and the Bruins didn’t hide their high hopes.

“I think we’re living in the moment, today,” said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. “He’s here. We expect him to go out and play his game, he’s going to have some nerves like every other guy that’s in his first NHL game that happens to be at the (Bell Centre).”

Studnicka led Providence with nine goals and nine assists before his recall. They knew he could do that; he did it in junior, and he showed some flashes in his NHL preseasons as well. It was just about getting up to speed playing against older players night in and night out.

“The thing with Jack is, when he left here, we wanted him to mature physically,” said Cassidy. “I think he knows the game, mentally-strong kid, it was just the physical part of it. But if you’re the best player down there and we need a call up, we always try to reward ninety-five percent of the time the best player, whoever’s being recommended as long as it’s the right fit for us. And it is, so in he goes.”

According to him — and the numbers — it’s been so far, so good.

“Physically getting stronger, it’s my first full pro year,” said Studnicka. “I went down there, learned how I can get by being a lighter frame. I think I did that and luckily, I got the call.”

Studnicka is arguably the top prospect in the system, and while they’re not expecting him to solve every problem, they’re not going to hold back on sending him out there.

“Scoring goals, killing penalties, like I said,” said Cassidy. “Full 200-foot game. Assertive on pucks, second effort on pucks, a lot of what we saw before, he was just obviously not as productive because it’s the National Hockey League, versus the American Hockey League, even in the preseason. But, seems to have found his stride offensively so hopefully he’s coming at the right time in terms of being confident to be able to make his plays.”

The hope is playing him on a line with Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle, two guys who have adapted well and are strong on the puck, can influence that area of Studnicka’s game.

“The physical part of the game is, he’s got plenty of courage, plenty of work ethic, will, he’s just not as strong yet as what he needs to be if he’s going to be a puck possession guy,” said Cassidy. “So Charlie should help him a lot with that but again, we’ll see. I haven’t seen him now in what, six weeks or so? He’s grown his game and sometimes that’s what it takes, is playing against men for a while. You learn to do a few things differently and sometimes it translates quickly, we’ve seen that with different players.

“Sometimes it’ll take a while.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2KWDfv0