{"id":894228,"date":"2026-10-25T14:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T14:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/894228\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T14:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T14:56:12","slug":"james-hagens-has-been-gritty-and-more-observations-from-the-bruins-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/894228\/","title":{"rendered":"James Hagens has been gritty, and more observations from the Bruins’ win"},"content":{"rendered":"

But Hagens\u2019 third-period tally in Saturday\u2019s 6-4 win over the Sharks<\/a> \u2014 a gritty rebound jammed home from the blue paint \u2014 is another encouraging sign that his offensive skill set is deeper than many initially envisioned, at least at this stage of his young career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was something right away we noticed \u2014 this is not college anymore,\u201d Marco Sturm said of Hagens\u2019s avenue for offense. \u201cI think he realized pretty soon, and we\u2019re pushing him pretty hard, getting more to the paint, more to the inside. That\u2019s where you score the goals, so good for him that he realized that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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At 5 feet 11 inches and 186 pounds, the fresh-faced Hagens isn\u2019t necessarily the second coming of Cam Neely. But three of his four goals this year have come within seven feet of the net, per NHL tracking data<\/a> \u2014 with the lone outlier being a banked-in goal from behind the net against Ottawa on Oct. 5.<\/p>\n

Hagens \u2014 who also leads all NHL forwards in blocked shots this season with 16 \u2014 wasn\u2019t exactly drafted to be a bottom-six grinder.<\/p>\n

But whether it\u2019s picking the corner off a breakaway or knocking home a greasy goal in the crease, the end result matters more to Hagens than the manner in which he\u2019s lighting the lamp.<\/p>\n

And right now, the results are pouring in for the rookie forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to score in this league,\u201d Hagens said. \u201cI just feel like if you keep going to the net, hopefully good things will happen \u2026 It\u2019s crazy how loud the crowd was tonight. It was a super cool feeling. That\u2019s something that I will be able to remember for the rest of my career and the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are some other observations from the Bruins\u2019 win over San Jose:<\/p>\n

\u22c5 Shutting down Celebrini \u2014 It was a rough night for the Bruins away from five-on-five play, with San Jose\u2019s four goals coming off two power-play tallies, one shorthanded strike, and one at four-on-four.<\/p>\n

But when the sin bins were empty, the Sharks were toothless. In 41 minutes of five-on-five play, the Bruins outscored San Jose, 4-0, and held a whopping 18-4 edge in high-danger scoring chances.<\/p>\n

Negating San Jose\u2019s top line \u2014 anchored by superstar pivot Macklin Celebrini \u2014 is no easy feat.<\/p>\n

But Sturm seems to have struck gold with a forward trio of Hagens, Elias Lindholm, and Casey Mittelstadt as Boston\u2019s de facto shutdown line.<\/p>\n

\"CaseyCasey Mittelstadt (right) and the Bruins’ third line did a good job of shutting down Sharks star Macklin Celebrini on Saturday.
\nMatthew J. Lee\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

In that group\u2019s 7:16 of five-on-five ice time against Celebrini, the Bruins outscored San Jose, 2-0, and held a 10-2 advantage in high-danger scoring chances.<\/p>\n

Mittelstadt was quick to credit the defensive acumen of Lindholm, who seems to have found his second wind after getting pushed down the depth chart as Boston\u2019s third center.<\/p>\n

In eight games since joining Hagens and Mittelstadt, Lindholm has 8 points and has often tilted the ice in the Bruins\u2019 favor at five-on-five.<\/p>\n

\u201cLindy does a heck of a job in all three zones,\u201d Mittelstadt said. \u201cMe and [Hagens] are there to support him and help him when he needs it. But thankfully, I don\u2019t think he needs it that often.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u22c5 Hard work paying off \u2014 Mittelstadt\u2019s ramped-up pace has been evident this season, with the 27-year-old forward\u2019s refined board work now complemented by a renewed ability to win foot races to pucks.<\/p>\n

Mittelstadt placed a premium on skating this offseason, with the winger fittingly potting home his 100th career goal on Saturday after a frantic forechecking shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always had good hands, and [his] brain, but I think he worked on it over the summer \u2014 the skating part \u2026 You can see it already,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cI think he\u2019s quicker, he\u2019s faster, and he\u2019s been rock solid all year long.\u201d <\/p>\n

Conor Ryan can be reached at conor.ryan@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But Hagens\u2019 third-period tally in Saturday\u2019s 6-4 win over the Sharks \u2014 a gritty rebound jammed home from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[19859,385,99],"class_list":["post-894228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-bruins","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}