The Bruins have scaled back rookie center Tyler Seguin's ice-time in recent games in an effort to ease his transition to the pro game a bit and maximize the early returns on their investment in the No. 2 overall draft pick.
On Wednesday night in New York, the plan worked perfectly. Seguin played just 11:15, the second lowest amount of ice-time he's seen in his young career. But the 18-year-old took advantage of the shifts he had, creating numerous scoring chances and cashing in on one for a key goal in Boston's 3-2 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
"I'm gaining more confidence every day," Seguin told reporters after the game. "I'm learning all the little things that come with this league and I think with more games coming by it's going to get better and better."
Seguin showed flashes of his considerable skill immediately upon his arrival, scoring on a beautiful breakaway in Prague in just his second regular-season NHL game. He had points in five of his first eight games.
But his progress has slowed in recent weeks. He hadn't scored a goal in the previous seven games, managing just one assist and 10 shots and posting a minus-1 rating in that span. Most disconcerting were his struggles in the defensive end, where a center must handle many responsibilities in Claude Julien's system.
Julien benched Seguin in the third period of a 2-1 shootout loss to St. Louis, when Seguin played a season-low 9:49. But Julien also showed the confidence he has in Seguin by using him in the shootout, and Seguin responded by scoring Boston's only goal with an absolutely filthy deke.
In the last two games, Seguin has been moved down to what is essentially the fourth line with Daniel Paille and Shawn Thornton, though Julien hardly labels any of his line combinations with numerical values.
The move appears to be paying off, though. Seguin is being asked to do less at even strength, but his skills are still being utilized with regular duty on the power play (2:17 on Wednesday). Seguin will eventually be teamed with more skilled finishers again when playing 5 on 5, but for now getting a close-up look at Thornton's work ethic might be more beneficial in the short run.
"I think it's a matter of he's really trying hard to take care of his own end and learning to play without the puck," said Julien. "At the same time, I think he's got to keep his focus on what his strengths are, and his strengths are what you saw him do tonight."
What Seguin did was read Rangers defenseman Matt Gilroy's attempt to keep the puck in at the Bruins' blue line. Seguin intercepted the puck, used his speed to burst past Gilroy and break in down the right wing, then perfectly pick the near top corner just out of the reach of Henrik Lundqvist's glove hand.
"I read the play and I went down the wide side," said Seguin, who finished a plus-1 and was also 3-1 on faceoffs. "I saw the top glove and put it there."
Seguin's goal gave Boston its first lead of the night, up 2-1 at 16:35 of the second period. It didn't hold up as the game-winner as the Rangers scored once more after Mark Recchi extended the lead to 3-1 in the third, but it changed the complexion of the game and gave the Bruins the all-important lead going into the final frame. Boston is now 9-0-0 when leading after two periods.
"It was great," said Milan Lucic, who tied the game at 1-1 earlier in the second. "He didn't stop moving his feet at all when he was going in there. It was a great goal-scorer's goal and it definitely lifted the team up when he was able to get that one in."
The education of Tyler Seguin will continue throughout the season and for years to come, but the early returns are certainly encouraging. He now has 4-3-7 totals through 16 games, which already exceeds the three goals and matches the seven points first overall pick Joe Thornton scored in 55 games as a rookie back in 1997-98. Seguin is on pace for 21 goals and 39 points, which would surpass the 11-18-29 totals of the man who was dealt for the picks that produced Seguin, as fifth overall pick Phil Kessel put up those modest numbers in his first season in 2006-07.
Thornton and Kessel went on to put up far gaudier stats as their careers progressed. What the future holds for Seguin is still uncertain, but the skill he's already flashed with goals like the one he scored on Wednesday certainly make for some enticing possibilities.
"He's a great offensive player who can skate, shoot and score goals," said Julien. "We're really encouraging him to keep doing that and just trying to add to his game instead of taking away his strengths. I thought he showed great composure tonight. He played well defensively and also showed some real good flashes of good offense."
