It had been almost six weeks since Jakub Lauko returned to the Bruins to play hockey due to an extremely close call involving a skate blade cut that left him sidelined.
The 23-year-old’s face fractures mended enough that he only missed seven games before making a successful recovery and donning a protective cage on his helmet. After the incident, he continued to wear neck protection, which he says he plans to keep on for the duration of his professional hockey career. He enjoys causing good, old-fashioned havoc on the ice by bashing bodies and employing his high-speed style of play.
After making a comeback to the field on November 11, Lauko eventually gave up the protective cage on his helmet a few weeks ago. However, this week was the first time he genuinely had the go-ahead to play as a fourth-line winger who was determined to play with energy and a hint of attitude.
After recovering sufficiently from the face fractures he had sustained back in October, he was given the all-clear medically and quickly resumed his hockey fighting.
In light of this, during the opening frame of Tuesday night’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden, Lauko sparred with Connor Dewar. It was “go time” for the young Czech forward since it was the ideal moment to cause some difficulty after Minnesota had just surged out to a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Lauko, who has spent the last few summer offseasons training with MMA fighters in his native Czech Republic, stated, “It was the first week I got the green light to fight.” I entered the game knowing that it was the first time I could play my style and do what I wanted to do. Naturally, when you are able to fight, you may just run around and try to hit everyone. For the first time, I could play the game the way I wanted to.
Lauko’s tilt instantly lifted his spirits; he wildly waved his arms, stared at the Bruins bench, and yelled, “Let’s go!” as he made his way to the penalty box, being applauded by a resounding TD Garden crowd.
“It’s something that motivates you, the teammates,” Lauko remarked following his tilt as he watched the Bruins score two goals in the opening frame. Thus, there is a lot of feeling at that moment. Yes, I guess I just let it all out. I simply wanted to let it out because it’s been boiling inside of me for the past two months. We scored shortly after, therefore I believe the work was done properly.
Lauko, along with his linemates Johnny Beecher and Oskar Steen, provided enough fourth line energy, and everyone could see the bounce back in his step. The Black and Gold will need to do it consistently because in recent games, the Bruins coaches were forced to cut their third period bench, which is not something that can be sustained over the length of an arduous 82-game regular season.
Following the OT defeat, Jim Montgomery remarked, “I do believe it was his best game.” “Just due to his intense puck play. He was tangible. I can recall at least three of his major hits. It was also, in my opinion, the fourth line’s strongest performance in a while, and we really needed it. It was beneficial to us.
Not only was it tough, but later in the period Lauko came dangerously close to scoring a lacrosse goal in the “Michigan” style. In 8:39 of ice time, he also concluded with a hit, a blocked shot, and a shot attempt.
With Milan Lucic gone, Boston’s fourth line is still trying to find its identity. Before his departure from the organization due to off-ice troubles, Lucic was expected to be a regular member of that group. In fact, Montgomery pushed Beecher, Lauko, and Steen in a meeting to increase their effort, aggression, and two-way play in order to help the team.
Since there isn’t a brutal Lucic-style presence approaching, Boston’s energy line will have to go within for the solutions. The Bruins definitely need it right now as the season’s dog days approach, when they’ll need a fourth line to play more minutes and add extra grit and enthusiasm to the game.
“We met with Monty in the morning on Tuesday. “He believed that we have been performing ok, but not to our full potential,” stated Beecher, who earned his second season-long assist on a David Pastrnak goal in the opening frame. “All we wanted to do was show up and play hard and quickly. We’re not going into this season expecting to score sixty goals, really.
Even if they have a colleague who is capable of scoring 60 goals individually, they aren’t anticipated to achieve 60 goals as a line this season. However, they can contribute. Just minutes after Lauko electrified the bench, Beecher did precisely that, winning a puck along the side wall in the defensive zone, moving it across the ice, and setting up Pastrnak for Boston’s first goal.
That is a great little road map for success for Lauko, Beecher, and any other players skating on the fourth line for the Bruins this year. Now, it’s just a question of going out and doing those small things consistently for a Black and Gold hockey team that needs a physical, tough, and dynamic fourth line to play against in the post-holiday stretch of their schedule.