Boston Bruins: David Krejci Pilots Balanced Attack in Win over Maple Leafs

Mounting evidence suggests that there is an unidentified element in the ice at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre that automatically sharpens the skates of David Krejci.

For the second time in as many visits to Toronto this month and this season, the off-and-on Boston Bruins center tallied a goal and two assists. That ups his season scoring log to 4-9-13 with a little less than half of his total output occurring on Maple Leafs property.

More critically, Krejci and  linemates Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic all scraped out multiple points. And at least one member of that line partook in four of Boston’s goals in a 6-3 triumph Wednesday night.

At no point did the entire troika split the credit on a single scoring play, but at least one or two of them had a hand in one power-play equalizer, two go-ahead goals and one insurance strike.

As it happened, none of them were involved in the eventual game-winner. That was the doing of Benoit Pouliot with assistance from Joe Corvo and Gregory Campbell with 16:57 to spare in the third period.

Even before Brad Marchand pumped a brownie biscuit into an empty Leafs cage in the final minute, half of Boston’s 18 skaters had already made at least one addition to their 2011-12 point bushel. All but three of them, including 11 out of 12 forwards, had already taken at least one shot on net before the second intermission.

In the process, the Bruins reran a season-long habit of torching Toronto backstops, ultimately assuring them at least half of the wishbone in their 2011-12 season series and supplanting the Leafs for first in the division for the time being.

Jonas Gustavsson had entered Wednesday’s start riding a personal four-game winning streak, having allowed a mere seven goals in that span. In his second full-length bout with the Bruins, he faced 39 shots and watched five slip by.

Only twice this season has the injured James Reimer’s topmost stand-in faced such a massive firestorm. Gustavsson repelled 40 out of 41 shots by Washington in a breezy 7-1 victory Nov. 19 while these same Bruins beat him six times on 43 registered attempts at TD Garden Oct. 20.

Krejci, who was lacking any goals in his last nine games, saw his night get off to an iffy start Wednesday. At the first intermission, he had taken three draws and lost all three. He was also on the ice for a pair of power-play goals, one to each side.

Things turned around in a hurry to commence the middle frame. On his first shift of the period, Krejci won the opening faceoff against David Steckel. On his second shift, with 3:33 off the clock, he snapped the 1-1 tie with his first goal since he deposited an empty-netter against the New York Islanders on Nov. 7.

In other words, technicalities aside, Krejci had gone 10 games without getting the better of a living, breathing Shooter Tutor. His go-ahead goal against Gustavsson was his first homeward-bound shot against an opposing goalie since Nov. 5, when he beat Toronto’s Ben Scrivens and effectively forced Leafs’ coach Ron Wilson to send out Gustavsson.

Exactly eight-and-a-half minutes after Joffrey Lupul invalidated the Bruins’ first lead, Krejci played a critical role in replenishing it. Ironically, he dealt a body-check to Lupul as Boston broke out of its own end. On the ensuing rush, he dished Horton’s feed to Zdeno Chara, who converted a wrister to secure a multipoint night for all three men in question.

By night’s end, Krejci was still sub-.500 in the faceoff department, claiming only 7-of-15 for a 46.7 percent success rate.

But after losing a draw to Mikhail Grabovski, he and his linemates did not let the Leafs out of their own end in the effort to draw a 4-4 knot within the final five minutes of regulation.

Instead, moments after a turnover by Luke Schenn, Krejci fed Lucic up front for his second strike of the night, renewing Boston’s two-goal advantage with 4:39 remaining.

The last time Krejci had a night quite like this―at the same site, no less―it proved a bit of a false start. Will he snap out of hibernation to stay this time?

Well, for what it’s worth, he has sprinkled two assists on top of Wednesday’s three points in his last four ventures.

And if it helps, these same Maple Leafs are on deck for a rematch this Saturday.