BRIGHTON, Mass. — Mason Lohrei was up the ice. He positioned himself well in the defensive zone. He carried, received and passed pucks cleanly. Lohrei took shots when necessary.
On Thursday in the Boston Bruins’ 1-0 win over the Utah Hockey Club, Lohrei was everything his employer has expected him to be this season. It started with his feet.
“The biggest thing, for me,” interim coach Joe Sacco said, “was that his gaps were much better. He had good lateral gaps. He got inside the dots off the rush defense, which allowed him to kill more plays in the neutral zone or at the blue line. He just seemed more confident in his skating. When his feet are moving, I think his puck play can come, following that. Definitely had some jump and the ability to make plays.”
One of Lohrei’s strengths is his short memory. The former forward usually does not hesitate to push the offensive pace the next time he’s on, even if his previous shift goes sideways.
But for whatever reason, under ex-coach Jim Montgomery, Lohrei’s fearlessness showed some cracks.
“Just thinking too much,” Lohrei said. “It’s the biggest thing, thinking. Obviously it’s a fast game. You want to be able to think. But just go out there and do it. That’s it. Just go out there and play. Lot of the things come naturally.”
When Lohrei gets in his head, things don’t always go his way. In his 16 games under Montgomery, Lohrei regularly fumbled pucks on retrievals, sent rims into enemy sticks and allowed easy entries by sagging back too much.
His defensive struggles bled into his offense. In Montgomery’s final game, Lohrei bobbled a power-play puck at the offensive blue line that led to a short-handed Justin Danforth goal. The next day, Montgomery was fired.
This is not what the Bruins planned for Lohrei. They acknowledged he had work to do defensively. The 23-year-old is still learning the position.
But they were willing to concede growing pains if Lohrei did what he does best at the other end: carry the puck up the ice, make plays at the offensive blue line, sniff for scoring chances down low. Lohrei’s self-doubt sapped the juice from his stick.
“There’s guys on the other team trying to take it from you and trying to take your head off at the same time,” Lohrei said. “Sometimes they’re going to have a good stick or whatever it is. You’ve just got to keep playing. That’s the biggest thing. You just can’t lose your confidence.”
Sacco didn’t make many moves in his debut. He made Brad Marchand the net-front presence on the No. 1 power-play unit. He replaced Georgii Merkulov with Pavel Zacha on the right-side half-wall on the power play midway through the game.
But Sacco also took Jordan Oesterle off the No. 1 pairing and replaced him with Lohrei next to Charlie McAvoy. Even if Lohrei and McAvoy both like going up the ice, Sacco believed their reads would produce balance.
“We really felt that Charlie and Mason could play against any of those three top lines,” Sacco said of Utah. “They seem to have some chemistry at times. As long as one guy’s in and one guy’s back, it’s OK. You can’t have both guys in. But I thought they read off each other well (Thursday) night.”
Lohrei is a critical part of today and tomorrow. He is the team’s most instinctive offensive defenseman. Lohrei, even more than McAvoy, can impact an outcome with his up-ice creativity. The Bruins are desperate for such left-side pace with Hampus Lindholm out for weeks.
Lohrei is also the team’s youngest defenseman. He and Johnny Beecher are the only current Bruins on their entry-level contracts. He needs to hit. There are no other defensemen with his skill set coming from below.
For all this to happen, Lohrei needs to relax, look to his feet and believe in his stuff. He was holding his breath too much with Montgomery at the wheel. By easing Lohrei’s stress, Sacco went a long way in bringing the defenseman back to his level.
“Just confidence,” Lohrei said. “That’s probably the biggest thing. Just going out there, playing with my head up and having confidence, knowing I can make plays. It all starts with being simple early. I just tried telling myself, ‘First couple puck touches, just make the first play. The easy play. Then let the game come to you.’ I felt good. I felt confident. Just want to keep building on that and keep getting better.”
(Top photo: Winslow Townson / USA Today)
