The Bruins certainly don’t undervalue David Krejci, but that doesn’t mean the softspoken center doesn’t go overlooked around the rest of the league.
However, Krejci continues to save his best for the playoffs, and that alone makes the rest of the NHL take notice as to how good the playmaking pivot really is. Krejci continued his sensational play Saturday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final with a pair of goals in the Bruins’ 3-0 win in Game 1. With the goals, Krejci now has seven goals and 12 assists in 13 playoff games this season — good for a league-leading 19 points.
It’s not the first time Krejci has led the league in playoff points, though. He did the same thing in 2011 when he led the way with 23 points on the way to the Bruins’ first Stanley Cup in almost 40 years.
That alone should put the league on notice and elevate Krejci to the game’s elite, but that’s not really what the forward is concerned with. He was asked whether or not he feels he’s up there among the league’s elite players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, both of whom Krejci outplayed in Game 1.
“No,” he stated flatly in his postgame news conference. “Those guys are the best players in the world at this moment. There’s no one like those guys.”
Krejci then paused before continuing.
“On the other hand, we don’t have guys like that. We have a team. We all play as a team.”
