While the pendulum has swing the Boston Bruins' way for the majority of the 2022-23 season, the team isn't waltzing around with a content mindset as the Stanley Cup playoffs quickly approach.
Head coach Jim Montgomery and his league-best 59-12-5 squad enter Sunday's matchup against the St. Louis Blues in search of a third consecutive victory. One player who’s stepped up when push came to shove through that stretch, Trent Frederic, already earned Montgomery's praise for exchanging fisticuffs with the Colombus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
But like the Bruins have shown all season long, they're not settling and neither is Montgomery, who highlighted a few areas in which he'd like to see Frederic’s style of play grow moving forward.
"What we wanna see about him and his development as a player is how quickly can he defend in the D-zone," Montgomery told reporters Sunday, per team-provided video. "Like we've seen (Pavel) Zacha do and obviously (Charlie) Coyle can do it, right? And we know (Tomas) Nosek can. ... I guess it gives us more diversity moving forward if he can play center besides both wings."
Frederic has assembled a career year season far for the Black and Gold. The 25-year-old has totaled 16 goals, 12 assists and 28 points -- all career highs -- over the course of 73 games played. Frederic also wrapped up the month of March scoring three goals with three assists and six points across 15 contests.
"I think his wall play in the D-zone has been really good," Montgomery told reporters. "And I think the second part is hanging on to pucks in the O-zone."
Wrapping up the second of a brief two-game road trip, Sunday's matchup with the Blues also served as a homecoming for the St. Louis native. During his childhood years, Frederic grew up a Blues fan before joining the Bruins in 2018.
"It's gonna be exciting for him," Montgomery said. "He's gonna get lots of ice. Sure he has a lot of friends and family that are here to see him."
