DeBrusk improved to 8 for 22 for his career in the shootout, which has not been a Bruins strength in recent years.
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After the shorthanded Bruins took down the Hurricanes in a Sunday shootout,
Joe Sacco might have had the widest grin of anyone streaming off the visiting bench.
The assistant coach had a hunch, and saw it play out.
“Joe Sacco was saying that I was going to get the winner throughout the game,”
Jake DeBrusk said. “In the third period, and it went to overtime. He’s like, ‘You’re going to get the winner.’ It went to a shootout and he was like, ‘You’re going to get the winner,’ and he gave me a tap and started laughing about it.”
Charlie Coyle snapped one five-hole on
Frederik Andersen.
Jeremy Swayman stayed with
Teuvo Teravainen’s tricky attempt. Then DeBrusk rose from his seat in front of Sacco, hopped the boards, and gave him a wink and a smile.
“Sure enough, I went up second and I had a chance to win it,” DeBrusk said. “I just kind of looked back like, ‘Maybe you’re right.’ ”
Andersen knew that DeBrusk comes in fast and glides as he loads his shot, but he was guarding against DeBrusk pitching it over his blocker. Instead, DeBrusk zipped his shot over Andersen’s glove.
“It’s a coin toss, honestly,” he said of his recent success. “I remember when I was first there, my first preseason training camp, I wanted to be known as a shootout guy, because I know the Bruins struggled in shootouts before that.”
DeBrusk is correct on that point. The Bruins have been arguably the worst shootout team in the league since it was introduced, scoring on 25.9 percent of their attempts. Only newcomer Seattle (22.2) is worse. Since 2005-06, the Bruins have finished 21st in the league or lower in every season but three: 2006-07, when they were 15th; 2011-12, when they were third; and 2021, when they were fifth.
