BOSTON — The Bruins got a first-hand look at the value James van Riemsdyk can provide on Saturday night at TD Garden.
JVR scored two goals in the Bruins’ victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday, including his first with the franchise and the game-winner. It was the kind of performance that was directly representative of what Boston envisioned when signing him this offseason.
“He allows you to make a lot more plays down low, just because of his ability to tip the puck,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said postgame. “That second tip — that second goal was incredible. The plays that we go down low, he has a poise. He makes really good decisions, and they have to be split-second decisions.”
Those “good decisions” Montgomery mentions are precisely where his value is during 5-on-5 play. If at all possible, van Riemsdyk’s role is to park himself in front of the net and either distribute the puck, or get it on goal. He tallied his first goal with the Bruins by doing the latter, centering the puck from beside the Predators’ net and banking it home off a Nashville defenseman.
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Those plays aren’t going to happen every game, but are no fluke.
The real value JVR brings is on the power-play, however. The B’s lost one of the great special teams players of all time this offseason, with Patrice Bergeron retiring and no longer occupying that famed bumper role. That means less wide open shots for David Pastrnak, which isn’t a good thing.
That change influenced a new ideology on the man-advantage. If the Bruins can’t work inside-out, they’re going to work outside-in, firing pucks on net and giving van Riemsdyk chances to tip the puck home.
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That’s something he’s pretty good at.
“It’s a big part of my role — my job here is to be effective (in front of the net),” van Riemsdyk told reporters in the Bruins’ locker room following the game. “There’s some great players out on the ice, so that makes it a lot of fun. Those guys make a ton of great plays and it’s my job to be around the net, and capitalize when it’s my time. It’s great to be out there with guys who can snap the puck around like that.”
The Bruins are going to miss Bergeron, it would take a miracle for them not to, but that doesn’t mean his absence doesn’t add a new wrinkle to the power-play unit. Boston has adapted to the loss, which is about all anyone could ask for coming off a historic season.
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Featured image via Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports Images
