David Krejci Sees Positives in “Fun To Play With” Ondrej Kase

David Krejci hasn’t found consistent wingers in recent years. The hope, back at the February trade deadline, was that Ondrej Kase would be that guy. Kase only played in six games with the Bruins after the trade deadline due to injuries and the COVID-19 pause. He missed almost all of Phase 3 training camp, and didn’t play for the club in Toronto until Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.

When Kase did play, he was on the right wing with his fellow Czech Krejci. The veteran center was overall complementary of Kase’s game.

“I thought he had some jump in his game,” David Krejci began. “He created a couple scoring chances for himself. He’s a really smart player so it’s fun to play with him. This was his first game in five months so I’m sure he’ll just be better each game.”

Naturally, in their first game together in over five months, things weren’t exactly perfect. The communication was good, but somethings need tinkering.

“Well we talk a lot,” Krejci continued. “Obviously helps that he’s from Czech as well, we talk on and off the ice, on off days as well. We had an idea how we wanted to play. I thought we were close a couple times. Like Cliffy (Connor Clifton) said, it wasn’t perfect, but I thought last two games we’re taking steps in the right direction. There needs to be a little more urgency around the net.”

That’s not the only thing that the Bruins will need to improve ahead of tomorrow’s Game 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes. They’ll need to flip the switch from ’round-robin mode’ to ‘Playoff mode’.

“That playoff mentality – shoot the puck, crash the net – I felt like that’s what was missing from our game today.”