Pouliot Fills In Nicely For Sick Marchand
BOSTON (CBS) - With Brad Marchand out sick with the flu, the Boston Bruins had to make a late switch to their lineup Thursday night against the Flames.
Claude Julien slid Benoit Pouliot into Marchand's spot on the Bruins second line, and after a 9-0 drubbing of Calgary, it couldn't have worked out any better. Pouliout assisted on Tyler Seguin's first-period goal and both of Patrice Bergeron's tallies in the second and third periods.
"I wasn't expecting (it), I didn't know Marchy was sick," Pouliot said after the win. "We're prepared; I talked to Bergy and Segs before the game just to get to know what we're going to do out there and I think things turned out pretty well."
"I thought he played a good game tonight," head coach Claude Julien said of Pouliot after the game. "He was really strong on the puck – he made some good plays and he just continues to get better. I think confidence is a big factor when it comes to that, and he's feeling more comfortable with our hockey club."
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"I thought Pouliot did do a great job," said Seguin. "He's fast. Obviously it's hard to replace a guy like Marshy but I thought he stepped up his game tonight for sure."
Marchand is Boston's second leading goal-scorer with 15 this season, but the team didn't seem to miss a beat without him.
"It says that we've got depth and we back each other up when we're missing one of our best players," said Pouliot. "Some guys needed to step up, and obviously props to our goalies. Our goalies have been playing awesome all year long and we just keep scoring goals."
After splitting time between the third and fourth lines (and the bench) this season, playing on the B's high-powered second line was a nice change of pace for Pouliot.
"It was awesome. It feels like they're always at the right spot at the right time," he said. "They're good skaters, good with the puck and they play hard on both ends of the ice. So, my job is just to fill in and try to help them out as much as I can and try to do what Marchy does and things worked out."
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Thursday night was Pouliot's first multi-point game in a Bruins uniform, and he now has seven points in the last seven games. With another strong showing with his new team, Pouliot said his confidence rises with each game.
"I think so. And it's just the guys around and the coaches having confidence in me. For me, it's just playing a little bit more with the puck and just doing what were supposed to do," said Pouliot. "If it's playing better defense then we'll get the offense going after that. But it's something I need to work on, I think right now I'm on the right path for that and I've just got to keep that going for 82 games."
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