All Eyes on DeBrusk and Heinen

The Boston Bruins received some unfortunate news on Tuesday night. David Pastrnak fell after a team event Sunday night and injured his thumb. Pastrnak had surgery on his thumb and will be re-evaluated in two weeks. Well it looks like the Bruins will be without Pasta, their leading scorer, for a while and likely through the trade deadline.

So now with Pasta out, the Bruins need two of their young guns to step up and deliver the production they’ve been lacking all year.

Those two guys are Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk. Last season Heinen had a great rookie campaign tallying 47 points and DeBrusk had quite the season as well with 43. This season both have seen quite the Sophomore slump as Heinen only has 19 points and DeBrusk 22. They look doubtful to get back to the 40 point mark.

This is the time the Bruins need these guys more than ever and maybe with Pasta out these guys will realize they need to step into larger roles.

Last night was a huge step in the right direction for both of them. Heinen wound up with three points notching a goal and two assists, playing alongside Bergeron and Marchand,  he’s starting to find his game and they need him to at least tread water with Pasta out.

DeBrusk has been in a heavy slump for much of the year and has had been hit by the injury bug often but he managed to record a goal and two assists last night. Now one night doesn’t break somebody out of a slump but it certainly helps. Heinen has been heating up as of late though with six points in his last four games

The Bruins are sitting at third in the Atlantic and are only a point away from the second place Leafs. With only 25 games remaining in the season the next two weeks before the deadline are majorly important.

Hopefully the Bruins can survive without Pastrnak and maybe swoop in with a big addition at the deadline. The Bruins have been looking for scoring depth all season and they still need it but if DeBrusk and Heinen can pick up their scoring pace it means they won’t need to get fleeced at the deadline.

-Tyler Smith