BOSTON — The Bruins have tried a few different players at first-line right wing through the first four games of the season without much success.
It was Seth Griffith’s turn in Monday afternoon’s 2-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at TD Garden, and the 21-year-old forward played well in his NHL debut.
“We’ll see if (Griffith) can build on that stuff, but I thought he got better, and he skated well,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “He made some plays. So, to me, I thought our lineup was an upgrade tonight.”
Boston’s first-line right winger last season was Jarome Iginla, who played at TD Garden on Monday wearing an Avalanche sweater. Iginla joined Colorado on a multi-year free-agent contract over the summer, and replacing his team-leading 30 goals has been a difficult task so far.
The early returns suggest a suitable replacement might not be in the organization. In addition to Griffith, Loui Eriksson and Matt Fraser have played on Milan Lucic’s line, and none of the combinations have produced a goal through four games.
With that said, Griffith played well enough Monday to get a few more chances alongside Krejci and Lucic. He was on the ice for nine shots for and nine shots against at even strength, while also starting 60 percent of his shifts in the attacking zone and tallying two shots and one hit in 16:10 of ice time (including 2:28 of power-play time).
Griffith has the skills of a natural goal scorer (powerful shot, good offensive awareness, etc.) and averaged 33.3 goals during his three-year junior career with the London Knights of the OHL before ranking second on the Providence Bruins with 20 goals during the 2013-14 campaign. He also is a hard-working player who battles hard for puck possession in the corners and along the boards, while not being a defensive liability.
Griffith probably isn’t the long-term solution for the top-line right wing role, but he’s one of the better short-term options at the moment. His performance Monday afternoon proved he can be a useful player at the NHL level and make more of an impact than other young forwards such as Jordan Caron.
— The Bruins have lost thee straight games in regulation. That didn’t happen once last season. Boston’s most recent three-game losing streak was in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final after they took a 2-1 series lead.
— Bruins backup goalie Niklas Svedberg made his season debut Monday and stopped 28 shots. It was a solid effort overall.
“(Svedberg) played well,” Julien said. “You’re going to say, ‘Well, the first goal trickled under his arm.’ Well, it did. But he made some pretty big saves after that to keep us in the game. So, I think he gave us exactly what we need from a backup goaltender. He gave us a chance to win.”
— David Krejci returned to the lineup after missing the first three games with an undisclosed injury suffered in the preseason. He received 19:06 of ice time.
“I felt pretty good,” Krejci said. “Honestly, there were some shifts where I stayed on the ice a little too long, and it was hard to catch a breath after that. Overall I feel pretty good.”
— The Bruins’ shooting percentage has been poor this season, which may suggest that the team is just going through a period of bad luck.
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— Loui Eriksson’s power-play goal was Boston’s second of the season. The Original Six club is 2-for-12 with the man advantage through four games. The Bruins were successful on all three of their penalty kill situations Monday.
Photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
