Bruins Notes: Danton Heinen’s First Career Hat Trick Highlight Of Boston Win

Boston — On Saturday night at TD Garden, Danton Heinen scored his first career hat trick to lead the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens.

The 28-year-old attacker reached the milestone in his 450th game of professional play by scoring a goal in each of the three periods. Heinen admitted, “I won’t lie, it felt good.” It was encouraging to see it enter and only add to the two points because it hasn’t been doing so lately.

In the middle of the third period, Charlie Coyle drew a slashing penalty against Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki. Up 8-4, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery sent Heinen out for some ice time on the man-advantage.

Heinen praised his coach, saying, “It was nice.” “He realized I had two there, and then (Morgan Geekie) put on a terrific play.” Everyone attempting to acquire it for me was kind of them.

Montgomery was happy that the players on the ice came through for Heinen because he knew they would try to set him up for his third goal. One thing about the Bruins, Montgomery remarked, “is how selfless our group is.” “It is astounding how much each individual cares for the others.” They kept going down in an attempt to get it to Heinen.

Montgomery added: “It was nice. I’m happy for him, but I’m more happy with the way it developed and the way we continued to try and get him the hat trick.”

The Bruins bench boss noted that Heinen has been producing for Boston even if the puck hasn’t been going in the back of the net but has encouraged him to continue to go to the high danger areas.

“He was fifth most scoring chances, five-on-five on our team the way we track,” Montgomery explained. “He’s doing a lot of good things but he’s not burying (the puck) and I could sense the frustration so it was nice for him to get it.”

Heinen averages 13:37 minutes of ice time per game and has 17 points (8 goals, 9 assists) in 37 games. In addition to Heinen, Pavel Zacha accomplished a career high by netting his 100th goal in the victory.

“It’s wonderful to see Zacha receive one,” Montgomery remarked. “We know we’re going to have these nine-goal games, but the guys need to score throughout the year so they feel good about their own play and their confidence with the puck increases significantly.”

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