Bruins Praise John Beecher For Dropping Gloves Vs. Hurricanes

The Boston Bruins look for center John Beecher to make an impact at the faceoff dot when he's in the lineup.

But Beecher found a much different way to contribute Thursday night in Boston's 4-1 win over the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.

Beecher dropped his gloves and got into a tussle with Hurricanes forward Jack Drury late in the first period with the Bruins already leading 3-0. It was just Beecher's second fighting major of his career.

Beecher certainly won't be mistaken for New York Rangers fist-thrower Matt Rempe anytime soon, but his willingness to throw punches with Drury was well-received by his Bruins teammates.

"Johnny did an incredible job. He answered the bell and did a great job," Bruins captain Brad Marchand told reporters. "It obviously energized the entire building, but we fed off that as well. That's one of those things that can be a momentum changer and we didn't let it affect us, just kept going, kept pushing."

Beecher's fight kept the urgency high for Boston as they tried to stop the Hurricanes, who came into the game with an 8-1-1 record in their last 10 games, from getting back into the contest.

The Bruins did concede a power-play goal to Jake Guentzel with less than five minutes to go in the second period, but that's all Boston allowed as it put the clamps on the Hurricanes and prevented them from gaining much momentum.

And Bruins coach Jim Montgomery credited Beecher's fight as critical in making that happen.

"I thought Johnny Beecher did great job there with the fight," Montgomery told reporters. "And I thought our team got a lot of energy out of it."