Truthfully, the word “brainy” should likely have appeared in the same sentence as “Bruins” much more often than “big” and “bad” in recent times.
And that sentiment is now being punctuated by the fact Loui Eriksson is finally reaching his full potential in black and gold.
Rough-and-tumble might be the Bruins’ historic reputation, but skill and smarts is what really made Boston—with cerebral dynamos like Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci centering the top lines—an Eastern Conference power during a Stanley Cup season in 2011 and another run to the final in 2013.
Now, as Boston tries to transition on the fly and climb back into the post-season after missing the dance last year, Eriksson is a central figure in the attempted ascent. Acquired in the trade that sent Tyler Seguin to the Dallas Stars in 2013, the 30-year-old is, at last, showing everyone why he arrived in Beantown with a stellar reputation.
“He’s been the most steady player in the dressing room,” said veteran Bruins forward Max Talbot. “Every night he brings it, mostly by his smarts—smart hockey IQ—and obviously his effort.”
Eriksson’s determination couldn’t be missed in Wednesday night’s 3-1 comeback win over the Montreal Canadiens. With his team trailing 1-0 and killing a penalty nearly eight minutes into the final frame, Eriksson—at the end of a long shift—found a way to fight off Montreal defenceman Jeff Petry on a heavily-contested breakaway and slide the puck through goalie Mike Condon. That seemed to ignite the Bruins, who took the lead just 42 seconds later and never looked back.
“He was pretty tired,” said Boston coach Claude Julien, “but he found a way to make it all the way down and score a big goal for us.”
That’s not a new theme for Eriksson this season. Playing alongside Krejci on the right wing, the Swede now has 11 goals and 25 points in 27 contests. That 0.93 points-per-game mark is the best of his career, just ahead of his pace in the 2010-11 season when he put up 27 goals and 73 points in 79 games for the Stars.
But production is only part of the story. Entering Wednesday night’s tilt, Eriksson was averaging 20:13 of ice per game, second among Boston forwards only to Krejci. A chunk of that time is coming shorthanded, where Eriksson—for reasons made obvious during the victory in Montreal—is one of Julien’s most relied upon penalty-killers. What Eriksson almost never does is put his team down a man, as he has just two (yep, two) penalty minutes this year.
Wither, Milan Lucic.
That entire, efficient package represents the player former Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli hoped he was trading for when he sent Seguin and a couple other pieces to Dallas for a return built around Eriksson and right winger Reilly Smith (since traded to the Florida Panthers for right winger Jimmy Hayes). In his New England debut, Eriksson was limited to 61 games thanks largely to a concussion sustained during the first month of his Bruins career. Seeing him miss any action was odd in itself, given Eriksson had played a full slate of games four of the previous five seasons in Dallas, missing a total of just three outings during that stretch.
Naturally, it didn’t help that while Eriksson was on the sideline, Seguin was blossoming into a perennial threat to win the scoring title. Nobody—including Chiarelli, one assumes—ever figured Eriksson for the type of offensive numbers Seguin had the ability to provide. Still, the optics weren’t pretty.
“It’s definitely nice to be back producing like (I have) this year,” Eriksson said. “Hopefully I can keep it up through the whole season. I’m definitely feeling good.”
After taking a step in the right direction with 22 goals in 82 games last year, Eriksson’s chemistry with Krejci—along with a Boston power-play that’s by far the best in the league and started Wednesday night with an absurd 30.7 success rate—is pushing things to another level. The two have a symbiotic relationship as Krejci, who endured his own injury troubles last year, is tracking the best season of his career thanks to a point-per-game clip.
“He can slow the game down a little bit and make really good plays,” Eriksson said.
Just as Boston is starting to see the best of its two-way winger, there’s a chance he could leave as an unrestricted free agent in the summer. But the way things are going, you have to believe everyone associated with the Bruins hopes the guy who’s always in the right place stays exactly where he is.