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Chris Bourque feels the comfort is there and the offense will come 01.25.13 at 12:47 pm ET
By DJ Bean

Chris Bourque has no points and a minus-2 rating through three games with the Bruins. (AP)

Chris Bourque is only three games into his Bruins career, and though neither he nor his line has made a ton of noise on the ice, he’s found Boston — the third NHL stop of his career — to be an ideal fit.

“Every game I feel more and more comfortable,” he said. “Obviously getting the nerves out the first couple of games, playing in the Garden with a full house, there’s definitely a little bit of nerves and obviously in New York the other night, but I’m starting to settle in here and I’m starting to feel pretty good and hopefully just get better every day.”

Bourque said that it still feels “surreal” playing for the Bruins given that he grew up watching his father, Ray Bourque, carve out a Hall of Fame career with the B’s, but that’s to be expected.

“Every day that passes, you get kind of used to it a little bit more,” he said. “Seeing my dad’s picture all over the place, every time I see that it reminds that he was such a legend here, so it’s still a little bit different, but something that I’m going to have to get used to. It’s a lot of fun being around these guys, a great group of guys and a good hockey team.”

As for what he’s done on the ice, Bourque is looking for his first goal as a Bruin (he has one goal in 36 career NHL games), but he’s been trusted with minutes on the third line, power play (he was on the ice for Brad Marchand‘s power-play goal against the Rangers Wednesday) and shootout, as he was Boston’s third shooter against the Jets Monday. The confidence is there on Bourque’s part, and the faith is there on Claude Julien‘s part.

“Chris Bourque is a great player, skilled guy,” Julien said after Friday’s morning skate. “I think he’s been an important part of our power play as far as giving us that left shot that we need right now. He’s been pretty decent there. I think he’s another guy that’s feeling his way through our hockey club. The one thing you want out of players that are coming in for the first time is that they don’t hurt your hockey club, and [he] hasn’t.”

The line of Chris Kelly between Bourque and Rich Peverley hasn’t been the Bruins’ strongest — they’ve produced no goals, while Bourque and Peverley have minus-2 ratings and Kelly is a minus-1 — but Bourque thinks the process of coming together has gone increasingly well.

“I think every game has gotten better,” he said. “Last game there were a lot of power plays and PKs. [Kelly and Peverley] kill penalties and me and Pevs are on the power play, so we didn’t play as much together as a line, but when we’re out there I feel like we’re creating some good energy. That’s part of the job as a third line is creating energy for the team and getting momentum. I think it’s been going pretty well so far.”

Bourque is also the third man in with a duo that’s plenty experienced with one another. Barring injuries and injury-related lineup shuffling, Kelly and Peverley have been linemates for the vast majority of their time in Boston since they were acquired days apart from one another prior to the 2011 trade deadline.

Both Kelly and Peverley spoke highly of Bourque’s work during training camp, but Bourque admitted that though he’s comfortable with his linemates, he’ll be comfortable over time.

“It always takes time to get chemistry,” he said. “It’s only been three games here. We haven’t had too much practice time either to get out there together, but I think every game we’ve gotten more and more chances. Against Winnipeg we had a couple off the rush there and the last game we were in their zone a couple of times. I think the goals will come, it’s just playing defense first and that kind of stuff. We’ve got to keep the puck out of our net in order to get it in there. We’ll just focus on the little things and the offense will come.”

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  • glenn88

    Chris is not skilled enough to compensate for his size at the NHL level.  He is smaller than Marchand and doesn’t have Marchand’s skating ability.  I think the entire organization is in a bind on this one, because there is loyalty to the Bourque family.  Chris is not able to win pucks at this level and is weighing down that Peverly line.  He drew a lucky penalty in NY that canceled a NY goal that was again a result of Chris being physically overmatched by NHL players.   There is a reason why he was left in college and the minors for this long by other NHL teams.
      
    He is going to be an AHL legend and celebrity in Providence. He could break the AHL all time scoring record once held by career AHL players like Bruce Boudreau.  No shame in this as he is getting the most out of his talent.  The question is how and when the Bruins pull the plug.

  • Bruins5247

    i agree to the previous post they need a vetren on that 3rd line bourque got the heart and the name but doesnt have the size or skill   when bs won the cup its because that 3rd line was very effective remember game 4 in mtl ryder leading the way after kelly tied it late  

  • Bruins527

    they need to stay healthy and add a 3rd liner for all ryders knocks he did produce 30 goals every yr and scored some very big goals in playoffs they should give spooner a shot for now until caron is ready then give caron a long look before making a move later in season if they can get a guy to play well with kelly and pevs  and those top 2 lines stay healthy bs could realistically g all the way bourque needs to go to providence asap….no knock on him but the goal is to icethe best possible team 

  • glenn88

    Good point about adding that 3rd line guy later in the season.   You can always pick up a guy like Kelly, Peverly or possibly a good 2nd line guy at the trade deadline without giving up the farm.   This gives the Bruins half a season to see if Caron or someone else from the minors can step in.  

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