Kalman: Goal Drought Aside, Beleskey's Been a Hit For Bruins
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Bruins didn't sign forward Matt Beleskey to a five-year contract worth $19 million dollars to be their human bowling ball.
They lured Beleskey away from the Anaheim Ducks to produce at the same clip he scored last season when he set a career high with 22 goals.
Beleskey's offense hasn't found its way into the Bruins' attack through the first 22 games of the season and he has just two goals. But he has found other ways to contribute to the team's turnaround, which has including the Bruins' recent five-game winning streak.
Beleskey leads the team with 82 hits in 20 games played. With his physicality, Beleskey has avoided the dreaded "invisible man" label that can get stamped on power forwards (maybe even ones that get traded to Los Angeles) when they're not scoring. Many of Beleskey's hits make a noise that reminds you he's on the ice.
"Obviously I'd love to go out and score that goal, change the momentum," Beleskey said after practice Sunday at TD Garden. "But sometimes it's just not there. So I think if I get can in, make a big hit on the forecheck, create some turnovers, I can help change the momentum."
One of Beleskey's bigger hits recently threw New York Rangers forward Derek Stepan into the wall awkwardly Friday. Stepan suffered broken ribs and is out indefinitely. Beleskey was not penalized for the play and the NHL decided to not pursue any discipline. If the hit on Stepan was late, it was late by a matter of tenths of a second – an amount of time impossible for a player to calculate in the dressing room, let alone in the heat of the game. If the Rangers, whose coach Alain Vigneault compared Beleskey's hit to Aaron Rome's hit on Nathan Horton in the 2011 Stanley Cup finals, or anyone around the League believed Beleskey had destructive intentions, all they needed to do was look at his record. At 27 and with 349 NHL games under his belt playing a power forward's role, Beleskey has zero suspensions or fines.
Every fined or suspended player started out as a first-time offender. But Beleskey's confident he knows how to play hard and stay clean. He need look just a couple stalls over from his in the Bruins' dressing room at Zac Rinaldo to see what a player that can't always stay on the right side of the rules looks like. That's not Beleskey's game.
"I try and make sure to keep my arms down, my elbows down," Beleskey said. 'And you've got to watch if a guy's in vulnerable position. Sometimes you just can't make that hit. There's been times this year that I've had to let up. But that's something you've got to try to find that line."
Beleskey held firm Sunday to the notion that Stepan didn't brace himself and that the hit was legal because it came from in front. Even ardent Rangers fans would have to admit that Stepan admired his pass more than he should have in that situation. Had Stepan not been injured, there probably wouldn't have been any consideration to punishing Beleskey and it would've just been another hit that Beleskey threw to rile up the hometown crowd.
As it was, Beleskey took enough punishment after the hit when Rangers defenseman Dylan McIlrath jumped to his teammate's defense and pummeled Beleskey in an ensuing fight. Beleskey took his beating like a pro and once again proved his worth to coach Claude Julien.
Despite a 12-game goal drought, Beleskey's been skating regularly on a line with center David Krejci and right wing Loui Eriksson, Boston's leading and third-leading scorer, respectively. In complimenting Beleskey on Sunday, Julien drew the inevitable comparison to Milan Lucic, who once filed that spot next to Krejci.
"Part of getting him was that he had some grit to his game," Julien said. "We know he scored 22 goals last year and that was the most productive scoring year he's had. But we needed that. When you look at his execution in the slot area, the shots, it's a matter of time, I keep saying it, before things start going in for him. But when you lose a guy like Milan Lucic and need to replace him one way or another, it's not easy to replace Milan Lucic.
"But this guy here gave us some grit. He's not afraid, as you saw. When McIlrath after him, he didn't turtle, he just dropped the gloves. He's a guy who's got a lot of guts and doesn't back down and is physical and finishes his checks and plays hard."
Last season Beleskey never went more than five games without a goal for the Ducks. He went through droughts that long three times, but nothing compared to his current slump. As hard-nosed as Beleskey is on the ice, off the ice he has the laid-back demeanor of a guy who was clearly molded into a NHL player in Southern California.
Needless to say, he's not freaking out.
"I had five shots on net [Friday]. That's more chances. What are you going to do?" he said. "I think if I'm still getting chances and the coaches are happy with how I'm playing, then I'm still doing my job."
And his job includes more than scoring goals, especially when others are picking up the slack and the Bruins have the No. 1 power play in the League (without Beleskey getting time there). His hits do more than make an exciting sound and bring people out of their seats. They can be as important as goals and assists.
"I've seen it happen in other games, a big hit and the team goes down and scores, something like that. It can be a momentum swing," he said. "It's something that I've always tried to do. Actually my dad always prided himself on being able to hit people, he said. And he said it can change momentum. Like I said, it's something that's not easy to do every night, but it's something that you can make sure happens. And that's what I'm trying to do."
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
