It’s no accident Erik Haula is surging toward the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Bruins forward explained to reporters Tuesday night how he overcome his slow start to the 2021-22 season, his first in Boston, and mounted a strong finish to the campaign. Haula scored twice Tuesday in the Bruins’ 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers at TD Garden, and the victory over the NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy front-runner underscored how good a team the B’s can be when they commit to playing a 200-foot game.
Bruce Cassidy’s Nov. 28 decision to healthy scratch Haula for one game was the wake-up call the veteran needed. Cassidy at the time urged Haula to use his speed to make a positive impact defensively and demonstrate a second effort on offense to help boost the team’s production. Five months after watching his teammates from afar for a night, Haula revealed how attention to detail helped him cement a role as second-line center.
“Going back to when I sat out that one game and (I) just kind of started picking out a couple things in my game that I wanted to focus on and building from that,” Haula said at a press conference following the Bruins’ win, as seen in team-provided video. “The defensive side of the puck was one of the things, moving my feet on the D-zone, whatever it is, just little things that I started picking out and focusing on. I think that helped me, taking little parts of the game and focusing on those, instead of the bigger picture. Then things started going better.”
Haula joined the Bruins last summer in free agency, but his slow start — just three points in his first 17 games — dulled the excitement over his arrival. Then came the Nov. 28 benching. In 60 ensuing games, he scored 17 goals and recorded 22 assists in addition to setting the second line’s defensive tone.
“He’s very comfortable in the D-Zone,” linemate Taylor Hall said Tuesday night, per the Bruins website. “I think you see he’s killing plays a lot more in the D-Zone, he’s much more assertive to get pucks back. Then from there, we’re all speedy guys on the rush and we seem to get better and better as the games go on reading off each other in that instance. Playoff is a different beast, there might not be that rush game.
“I feel like our forecheck and our end zone play has gotten a lot better as well since January 1. That’s gonna be what the playoffs is. It might not be the same rush game every time out there, so you have to find different ways to create offense … whatever game is gonna be played we have to be ready for that and I think we are as a line.”
Haula and the Bruins have just two more games remaining in the regular season. First up will be Thursday night when Boston hosts the Buffalo Sabres. Watch full coverage of the game live on NESN+, with puck drop from TD Garden scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. If you’re on the go, be sure to catch all the action online at Watch NESN Live.
