Kalman: Mojo Rising for Bruins' Bartkowski At Right Time
BOSTON (CBS) - Unlike Austin Powers, Matt Bartkowski doesn't have to have his mojo stolen. Bartkowski seemingly gives it away at the slightest sign of adversity the way he gives away pucks when he's in one of his frequent slumps.
But two games into his return from a seven-game healthy hiatus caused by his disastrous play on the Bruins' back end, Bartkowski seems to have regained his mojo.
He was plus-2, had an assist and made two dynamic defensive plays in the Bruins' 2-0 win against the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden on Tuesday. Bartkowski's solid play became more important for the Bruins once Adam McQuaid missed most of the last two periods with an arm or hand injury.
"Just playing my game so I'm as confident as I can be," Bartkowski said. "It's big. We got injuries on the back end. Somebody's got to step up. So I'm just happy I'm playing my game.
Although his stretches of poor play tend to make his positive performances seem like mirages in one's memory, the fifth-year pro has filled in admirably for the Bruins in the past. He held his own as a third-year pro thrust into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in seven games in 2013. Last season when Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid had their season's shortened by injury, Bartkowski helped smooth the Bruins' road to the Presidents' Trophy.
The 2014 playoffs, however, were another story for Bartkowski. And his lackluster player carried over to the start of this season. Every giveaway seemed to kill the Bruins, and every bad play seemed to chip away at his confidence. Eventually, even with Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug and Kevan Miller all out of the lineup, coach Claude Julien decided it was time for Bartkowski to look for his mojo in the press box popcorn rather than continue to cost the Bruins games while searching on the ice.
According to Julien, a change had to be made after the Bruins lost on back-to-back nights to Toronto and Montreal by a combined score of 11-2 last week. That's why he put Bartkowski back in against Carolina on Saturday. It's debatable whether Bartkowski had a positive effect on the Bruins' 2-1 win. Nonetheless, Bartkowski felt like after a solid practice on Friday he'd made some strides Saturday.
"I don't know, last game I was pretty good," Bartkowski said when asked when his felt his mojo reappear. "Probably I don't know, halfway through the first period."
Whether you agree with Bartkowski's assessment of his play or not, the important thing was that he believed in himself.
Then the Blues, winners of 10 of their past 11 games and carrying a 2.8 goals-per game average, arrive at the Garden and you have to wonder if Julien can trust having Bartkowski in the lineup. Miller was finally cleared to play and was available. He and Bartkowski took the warmup, and Julien opted to stick with the same sextet he rolled with against the Hurricanes.
"I didn't feel that in my mind Bartkowski deserved to sit out. That's not the message I want to send as a coach. If you deserve to play, you play," Julien said.
Bartkowski still had his shaky moments. But that's to be expected. When your game's 6 feet under, it can't be expected to climb all the way back to the service in 20:52 of ice time. With the game hanging in the balance, though, Bartkowski came up big. About nine minutes into the first period, with the Bruins ahead 1-0, Alexander Steen seemingly had a clear path from the Boston blue line to the net. Bartkowski raced to slow Steen down, took the puck away and turned up back up the ice.
Late in the second period with the Bruins protecting a two-goal lead, Bartkowski made a diving stick check on St. Louis scoring machine Vladimir Tarasenko with less than two minutes to play.
These are the types of plays a player doesn't make unless he's feeling frisky.
"When his confidence is down you can see him not sure about moving the puck and a little hesitant with going or not going – that's a confidence thing," Julien said. "The more you go, and that's what we talked about when we took him out. We said right now he's his worst enemy. Sometimes you've got to take a step back and you work with him and you try and rebuild his confidence and you work so hard at rebuilding it. Eventually, you get your shot and you take advantage of it. That's what he's done."
Julien credited Bartkowski for keeping the right attitude during his couple weeks on the sidelines. Although he's typically a snippy sourpuss with the media, Bartkowski also took the right tact with his teammates despite his misfortune.
"That's how it goes. It's ups and downs and it's how you handle it when you're down," defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. "Bart is a guy that always works hard and always is positive and sometimes you do lose your confidence. And it's the way you battle back, it's the way you react once it happens. And he's been doing a great job."
Miller's return will ease the pain of McQuaid's injury to the team, even if McQuaid has to be ready to tear his hair out with his run of ailments. Still, the Bruins' injuries in the NHL and at Providence of the American Hockey League pretty much require that Bartkowski stay on this upward trend for a while longer.
Julien showed the confidence in him from Saturday to Tuesday and will probably keep doing that as long as Bartkowski earns the faith.
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