Luckily for the Bruins, they have two of the best in the business when it comes to those areas of expertise in forward Mark Recchi and defenseman Derek Morris.
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Recchi recently tied Hall of Famer Stan Mikita for 13th overall on the NHL’s all-time points list at 1,467. One of the main reasons for Recchi's scoring prowess has been his willingness to sacrifice his body and place himself in those aforementioned dirty areas.
The veteran's younger teammates have taken notice and are trying to emulate their leader.
“You figure out really quickly which spots to be in [when you watch] him,” said forward Blake Wheeler. “He’s scored ‘X’ amount of goals standing in front of that net taking physical abuse, and even though he’s not the biggest guy or the strongest guy in the world, he’s just the best at being in those spots and wanting to be there. That’s what you learn from a guy like [Recchi], is that if you get in those spots, get your nose dirty, battle for five or 10 seconds, you’re going to up your goal count quite a bit just by being in those spots.”
Many times, the man delivering those perfect shots for tip-ins will be Morris, who has an uncanny ability to shoot the puck at a perfect height and speed for his teammates in front of the net. The majority of Morris’ 20 assists this season have been the result of tip-ins or redirected shots — and as rookie defenseman Johnny Boychuk pointed out, there aren’t many better in the league than Morris.
“Not everyone can make it look that easy, and that’s why he’s been in the league for so long,” Boychuk said of the 12-year veteran. “It may look easy, but it’s not — trust me. And he just does it to perfection every shift. So I just try to watch him and learn from the little things, but I’ll never be that good.”
Boychuk has one of the hardest shots in the league but realizes that his job is to just get the puck on net or down low to create chances for his forwards.
“With my shot, I’m just firing it in there and hoping to hit the net — and if not, maybe a teammate can tip it in, but my job is to get that initial shot and either score or create a rebound,” he said.
The overall key is for someone to be there to collect those rebounds and create traffic in front of opposing goalies. At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, Wheeler has the perfect size to play such a role. Lately, he’s been doing so on a more regular basis, and it has been showing of late as he's scored four goals in his last four games.
"That’s where I’ve tried to be again lately," Wheeler said, "especially when goals — and pretty goals — haven’t been as easy to come by as they may have once been. It seems cliche, I know — saying we need to go to the dirty areas — but once we start doing it on a regular basis, it’s evident that it works. It’s always nice to get rewarded for dirty goals like that. I like to be in front of the net — it’s where I belong — and I need to be doing it more often than not.”
