Jake DeBrusk Continues To Make Up For Slow Start Vs. Avalanche

Boston Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk wasn’t going to let himself get bogged down by his sluggish first half of the season.

DeBrusk knew he had time.

“I got a half year to make it up,” DeBrusk told reporters with a laugh following Boston’s 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche at TD Garden on Thursday night.

DeBrusk certainly is making the most of that time with the Bruins across the midway point of the regular season. And while David Pastrnak received the majority of the spotlight for his hat trick against the Avalanche, DeBrusk had a shining performance, too.

The 27-year-old notched a goal and assisted on one of Pastrnak’s tallies to keep his torrid stretch going. Since Dec. 27, DeBrusk has recorded six goals and five assists in 12 games. In the 32 games prior to that, DeBrusk had just four goals and seven assists.

“I’ve been in positions like this before where I didn’t know if I could do it, but I know I can do it, so that makes it almost honestly more frustrating, just kind of waiting patiently,” DeBrusk said. “You try different things and you understand it’s a long season. Christmas break really helped me get away from the game for just even if it was a couple days and then came back kind of fresh and just been trying to build off that. But I know what I can do. … So, it’s one of those things where hopefully I can keep gaining ground.”

DeBrusk had a terrific tip-in to score the last of Boston’s three first-period goals and then came up with an even prettier play with a picturesque pass to Pastrnak down low on the power play for a goal and some breathing room in the form of a 4-2 lead with less than three minutes remaining.

DeBrusk’s showings seem to keep getting better and better with each game as he continues to get his production back up to the standard he set.

“It seems to be getting repetitive here in the second half. It seems like every game is his best game of the year,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters. “That’s a credit to him because his details, his habits, that play to Pasta, that’s a high-end play on the power-play goal.”