Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic first used his hands to get off some punches at an old nemesis.
But then he used those same hands for an even greater purpose in Thursday’s 5-2 road win over the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
Frederic broke a third-period deadlock by scoring twice in a span 34 seconds, helping the Bruins improve to a dazzling 30-4-4 on the season. It’s been a breakout campaign for the 24-year-old, who is now up to a career-high nine goals after his stellar performance against the Kings.
“I think just his maturity, his trust in his game and getting more opportunities has allowed his confidence to grow,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told NESN’s Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley on the network’s postgame coverage. “He’s just a real good hockey player for us now. I mean, he’s got nine goals and they’re all five-on-five goals. It’s not easy to do in this league in the first half of the year.”
Before Frederic lit the lamp twice in the final frame, he created fireworks by dropping the gloves with Kings forward Brendan Lemieux in the second period.
Frederic and Lemieux both traded fists and there’s certainly no love lost between the two as its the third fight between them since Frederic entered the NHL in the 2018-19 season.
“When he came up to me, I can’t ever say no to him,” Frederic said as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Not a big fan of him. So, every chance I get, I try to do it.”
The bout seemed to energize Frederic, who rounded out his showing by providing some well-timed offense for the Bruins.
Frederic put Boston ahead with 9:24 remaining when he put himself in perfect position to redirect a shot from the point from Brandon Carlo past Kings goalie Pheonix Copley.
“It was a good shot by (Brandon Carlo),” Frederick said. “I haven’t had a tip-goal in a while, so that one felt good.”
Frederic didn’t wait long to get another attempt by Copley, as this time Nick Foligno fed Frederic all alone in front and the fifth-year pro deposited his shot into the back of the net.
It was another terrific performance from Frederic, and he came up only an assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Kings game:
— Brad Marchand definitely felt slighted after he was taken down early in the second period and the referees clearly missed the call. Marchand blew a gasket, slamming his stick on the ice and on the bench, which resulted in him being penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.
But once out of the penalty box, Marchand came back with a vengeance. He set up David Pastrnak for the game-tying goal before registering a power-play goal later in the frame. It was a tough lesson learned for the Kings: Don’t make Marchand angry.
“The emotion he gave our team after that, I felt we were going to kill that (penalty) off,” Montgomery said. “Obviously, I started riding that line a little bit and they rewarded us with those two big goals.”
— The Bruins reached 30 wins in the second-fastest span in NHL history, tying the 1944-45 Montreal Canadiens, according to ESPN Stats and Info. The only team to notch 30 wins quicker were the 1929-30 Bruins.
— Jeremy Swayman didn’t have his best performance, but he came up with some timely saves at the beginning of the third period to keep the score leveled. Swayman recorded 27 saves to notch the win.
“That was dynamite. Those two saves were big,” Montgomery said. “He made a couple of real big saves in the first period. LA played really well. They had their moments and (Swayman) answered those moments.”
— The Bruins continue their three-game West Coast swing Saturday when they take on the San Jose Sharks. Puck drop from SAP Center at San Jose is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
