A look at Jack Studnicka’s first NHL game

If you’re in the Boston Bruins organization and you’re making your NHL debut in Montreal, a game like this is one hell of a way to break into the league.

Jack Studnicka’s NHL debut was the big storyline heading into this game, but thanks to the Bruins’ utter dismantling of the Canadiens, his debut was kind of an afterthought after the final horn sounded.

So...how did he do? On the whole, not bad.

It’s worth mentioning that it’s a little silly to draw conclusions about a rookie after a single game, and even sillier when that game is essentially over 10 seconds into the second period, but we can still discuss it.

Studnicka got into the mix early, getting bundled on his first shift.

He appeared largely unbothered by the hit, and managed to make a few decent plays on his first few shifts. On NESN postgame, Bruce Cassidy noted that early on, it looked like the pace of the game might get away from Studnicka; however, he credited the kid for sticking with it and said that he managed to make some plays, get in the right spots, etc.

On the night, Studnicka skated 14:30, including 66 seconds of power play time. That 14:30 was more than Chris Wagner, Joakim Nordstrom, Par Lindholm, Danton Heinen, and Jake DeBrusk, so clearly Cassidy wasn’t holding the kid back.

He was credited with 1 shot on goal, 1 hit, and 2 giveaways. He also recorded his first two NHL penalty minutes in this very, very minor dust-up with Max Domi:

Perhaps most importantly for his confidence, he earned himself a souvenir puck with an assist on Danton Heinen’s late goal, the Bruins’ 8th.

On the whole, I don’t recall much about Studnicka’s game tonight really catching my eye, which is probably a good thing. There were no horrific turnovers, no lazy plays, no obvious rookie mistakes.

He was solid, if a little quiet on offense, but still managed to emerge with a point.

Your thoughts?