Former Bruins Forward Joins Exclusive NHL Club With Playoff Goal

It doesn’t matter the sweater former Boston Bruins forward Erik Haula puts on, he just finds a way to contribute in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The 32-year-old journeyman, who has bounced all over the league in his 11 NHL seasons and spent last season with the Bruins before being traded this past offseason, made his way into an exclusive group Thursday night by making an impact for the New Jersey Devils in their opening-round series against the New York Rangers.

Haula opened up the scoring in Game 2 on the power play by tapping in a rebound to become just the sixth player in NHL history to score at least one goal in the playoffs with six different teams. He joined Jason Arnott, Matt Cullen, Doug Gilmour, Mike Sillinger and Bryan Smolinski to achieve the feat.

Can you name the six different teams Haula has scored a goal with in the postseason (this will be good bar trivia one day)? Here they are: Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, Bruins and Devils.

Haula’s postseason tally with the Bruins came in last year’s first-round series against the Hurricanes as he scored in the third period of a pivotal Game 6.

Boston traded Haula in July after one season with the club for center Pavel Zacha. It’s a deal that certainly has worked out for the Bruins, with Zacha, who Boston gave a contract extension to in the middle of the season, notching 21 goals and 36 assists for 57 points. Haula had another serviceable regular season with the Devils, totaling 14 goals and 27 assists for 41 points.

But Haula does have a leg up on Zacha in the postseason. While Zacha has recorded an assist each of the first two games of Boston’s series with the Florida Panthers, he’s still in search of his first career playoff goal.