It was easy to get lost in the shuffle Sunday night with the Boston Bruins making NHL history yet again and David Pastrnak shining bright with a hat trick to get to 60 goals.
But with the Bruins missing a handful of key pieces for the matchup against the Flyers, including Patrice Bergeron and Charlie McAvoy, they received a sterling effort from an unheralded forward to help ensure that Boston left Philadelphia with record-breaking win No. 63.
Fourth-line center Tomas Nosek ended up playing a key role in the victory even though he wasn’t putting pucks in the back of the net like Pastrnak. Instead, Nosek dominated at the faceoff dot.
The eighth-year pro was no match for the Flyers in that department, winning 15 of the 16 faceoffs he took to give the Bruins a clear edge in winning the puck once dropped by the on-ice referee.
That type of contribution might not steal headlines, but it certainly was vital in helping the Bruins generate offensive chances. And Nosek’s penchant for winning faceoffs this season hasn’t gone unnoticed by first-year head coach Jim Montgomery.
“He’s so good at winning draws… so it allows us to hold the Bergeron and (David) Krejci lines for offensive situations,” Montgomery told reporters back in early March. “And it allows me to use him in defensive situations.”
While Bergeron’s faceoff skills are raved about, and rightfully so, Nosek showed he’s a valuable asset at the dot as well. Bergeron leads the Bruins by securing 60.6% of faceoffs while Nosek is second on the team sitting at 59.3%, which is the second-best mark of his career.
It’s a contribution from Nosek that flew under the radar Sunday, but still an important one that should pay dividends in the playoffs as well.
