Kalman: Eriksson Keeps Disproving Critics With Hat Trick Versus Wild
BOSTON (CBS) – How dare the referees doubt the abilities of Loui Eriksson.
After Eriksson poked the puck past Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk at 11:21 of the second period Thursday, the officials reviewed the play to see if Eriksson had kicked the puck into the net. The review upheld the goal because there was no distinct kicking motion.
But the kick didn't matter. Eriksson had gotten his stick on the puck after he initially kicked it off Dubnyk. This is Loui Eriksson we're talking about people. When he's around the net, he's going to score and he's going to do it legally.
Based on their doubts about Eriksson, maybe the officials were trying out for a spot on sports radio or they'd been reading Twitter. If you've listened to or read the opinions of Eriksson in those places, you might think he should be dishing out meatballs instead of playing for the Bruins because of the way he's underappreciated and put down.
Eriksson continued to prove the doubters wrong Thursday, as he scored three times in the Bruins' 4-2 victory at TD Garden. He ran his season's goal total to nine in a game the Bruins desperately needed after blowing two leads in a loss to San Jose on Tuesday.
"We definitely need to start winning at home," Eriksson said. "I thought we had a pretty good game tonight. We had a lot of shots and we created a lot of good chances. It was definitely nice to get the win and of course, to get a hat trick, it's been a long time, so it was nice."
Eriksson's last hat trick came Dec. 31, 2009 with the Dallas Stars against the Anaheim Ducks. That season he finished with 29 goals one year after he had a career-high 36. Modern-day Eriksson isn't quite the same player – he's 30 and he's sporting a November mustache – but his approach to the offensive zone is still the same. He uses his lanky frame and surprising strength and leverage to carve out areas of the slot and scores on rebounds, tips and whatever he can do to get the puck past the goaltender. Before Thursday, he probably had as many goals this season go off body parts and skates as he had off his stick.
Even in his marquee game of the season, Eriksson scored his first goal off Minnesota forward Jason Pominville's skate. But let's face it, if the puck hadn't gone in off Pominville's skate Erikson probably would've gotten to the rebound. After all, this is Loui Eriksson we're talking about. He's a five-time 20-plus-goal scorer in the NHL and he had 22 last season for the offensively challenged Bruins.
Eriksson scored his second goal – with his stick – on the power play after he won battles against defensemen Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon. The meaningless review couldn't stop him. Then he sealed the hat trick with a shot on the back end of a give-and-go with center David Krejci to provide the final margin of victory at 4:14 of the third period.
There have been murmurs that Eriksson's hot start to this season has been sparked by his drive for a new contract. He's scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent next summer. I guess it's easy to forget what a consistent producer he's been, in addition to being a three-zone standout that had people calling him a poor man's Patrice Bergeron when he first came to Boston.
It turns out that when his head's on straight and he's not trying to recover from two concussions, like he was in his first Boston season in 2013-14, Eriksson is the great player Peter Chiarelli wanted.
To accuse Eriksson of flipping some sort of switch in the last year of his contract is both unrealistic and ignorant of his past accomplishments. He's always had a goal scorer's pedigree. To continue to compare him to the player that went to Dallas in Chiarelli's worst trade is unfair because it wasn't Eriksson's decision to make that deal. The Swede came to Boston ready to keep being the same player he was in the Lone Star State. Injuries sidetracked that.
Now he's filling his role as well as expected and coach Claude Julien loves Eriksson for it.
"Loui's one of those guys, and as much as he scored three goals and we can all look at that, it was a great accomplishment, he also was good in the other areas – the penalty kill, and our D-zone," Julien said. "He was one of those guys that had his stick in the right places, taking away some of their slot opportunities that they excel in, and he was really on top of his game. So, not only does he deserve to be the best player tonight because of those three goals, but because of the rest of the game as well."
The only thing that could've stopped Eriksson from willing the Bruins to victory against the Wild was the video review. The replay proved what we all already knew – that Eriksson scored, like he always does, whether you choose to remember it or not. The way things are going there should be plenty more of those goals coming the Bruins' way this season.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
