Bruins notebook: Jakub Lauko puts experience to work

BOSTON — Jeremy Swayman has a favorite saying. “You can’t buy experience at Target,” the Bruins’ netminder has often said.

Jakub Lauko can attest to that.

Lauko freely admits that when he got his first taste of Stanley Cup playoff action a year ago against the Florida Panthers, his head was swimming.

“Last year I jumped into Game 3. And I’m going to be honest, for the first two or three shifts I was just looking around,” said Lauko on Sunday. “I couldn’t believe how fast the hockey was. It was a great experience for an opening-eyes experience. I don’t think there’s anything else in the sports world like it. Playoff hockey in the NHL is a completely different atmosphere. The feeling is completely different.”

In Saturday night’s Game 1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Lauko was ready for that charged atmosphere. He was one of a host of depth players who brought the emotion and physicality that will be required for the B’s to advance. In 11:31 of icetime, he doled out five hits and had a memorable block at the end of regulation that caught the attention of the B’s captain.

“Lauks’ effort there – five seconds left and he blocks that shot,” marveled Brad Marchand on Saturday night. “He doesn’t need to do that, it’s 5-1 at that point. But it just shows the dedication to the game and the details.”

In his first taste of playoffs last year, he was in the lineup for the B’s two wins in Florida in Games 3 and 4. But after being in the penalty box for a third period goal in Game 5, he didn’t get into the lineup again that series.

Everything is subject to change, especially when you’re a bottom six forward, but coach Jim Montgomery liked what he saw from Lauko in his second chance at playoff hockey.

“I thought last year, there was an excitement to him to play and actually thought (his first two games) he was one of our better forwards for what his role is,” said Montgomery. “I thought (Saturday) night, he was excited but also a little more comfortable, handling pucks and wanting to go out there and be out there more.”

There were both ups and downs for his third line with Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic. At the end of the first, a Geekie turnover at the Boston blue line led first to matching penalties and then, after the faceoff, another penalty on Hampus Lindholm at the net that led to a lengthy 4-on-3 to start the second period.

But the line made up for it in the third period. The Leafs finally got on the board with a goal and they were dominating play when the third line seized momentum back with what Montgomery described as “probably our best offensive zone shift of the game.” Geekie delivered a huge hit early on and then they continually won the puck back before Lauko drew a penalty, forcing Jake McCabe to take an interference penalty.

That shift pretty much extinguished any Toronto momentum for the evening

“We just went in there and said ‘Hey, let’s have a shift, let’s wear them down, let’s make something happen,’” said Lauko “We had a couple good opportunities to score. Geeks had a great hit before. We were able to draw a penalty so it was huge. We need to do it more often as a line and keep growing our game.”

It’s that type of physicality that must continue throughout the lineup.

“It’s really important. You’ve got to wear teams down and that’s how you wear them down,” said Montgomery. “I thought the second period in the last 15 minutes after we killed that 4-on-3, that was the best segment of the way we want to play. You could see players on the opposition being tired. Conversely in the third, I thought you saw us be tired. I didn’t particularly like our third, especially offensively.”

Lauko was able to maintain the battle mindset right up until the final horn with that blocked shot.

“It doesn’t matter if its 5-1 or 1-1 or whatever. You’re there to do a job. It was my job to block the shot, even though there was one second left.”

Now Lauko and the B’s have to do it all over again in Game 2 on Monday. …

Adjustments

The B’s adjusted their D pairings, flipping Matt Grzlecyk up to play with Charlie McAvoy while moving Hampus Lindholm to a shutdown pairing with Brandon Carlo. The result was just one fourth line goal from the Leafs and nothing from their big stars like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares.

But Montgomery believes the B’s, outshot 36–24, can do more at both ends of the ice.

“We didn’t spend a lot of time in our own zone, which was probably the biggest reason we were able to neutralize some of what they did,” said Montgomery. “But I don’t think we were all that good at net-front. Swayman had to make a lot of second-chance saves, which we don’t like. Conversely, what can we do better? We need to spend more time in the O-zone. We didn’t do a good job offensively 5-on-5.”…

This may come as a surprise, but Montgomery didn’t name a starting goalie for Game 2.

“We’re still contemplating what’s the right way to go,” said Montgomery.

William Nylander, who missed Game 1 with a mysterious ailment, was on the ice at Warrior Ice Arena for about 45 minutes. As he promised, coach Sheldon Keefe would not give reporters any kind of update or prognosis for the Leafs’ 40-goal scorer for Game 2.

_____