BOSTON — Because his English comes slowly and carefully, there’s an easy misconception that Bruins forward Marat Khusnutdinov is timid or lacks confidence.
Nikita Zadorov, Khustnutdinov’s friend, fellow Russian and his hockey big brother, set the record straight quickly.
Khusnutdinov does not lack for self-esteem.
“He’s pretty confident,” Zadorov said. “As soon as they put him on the first line, he’s been making plays. He’s keeping the puck. He’s on every puck, really hungry. He’s a good player. So I don’t think that guy is lacking confidence at all.”
That inner belief showed itself as he carried the puck on the left side of a three-on-one rush in overtime. He had Fraser Minten and Hampus Lindholm with him, but Khusnutdinov never hesitated. He snapped a wrist shot by Sabres goalie Alex Lyon to give the Bruins a 4-3 win.
“I don’t know. It’s unbelievable for me. First game on the first line. first goal on the season,” he said. “It’s great for the team, great for me.”
Zadorov, who is taking Khusnutdinov with his family when they celebrate Halloween on Friday, enjoyed seeing his friend succeed.
“I was really happy. It’s great. I mean, he’s a good player, good kid, too,” Zadorov said. “We’ve been close since he came here. Family is close. He’s coming for trick-or-treating tomorrow.”
It’s been an up-and-down year for the 23-year-old that the Bruins acquired last year at the trade deadline. He’s been a healthy scratch for five of Boston’s 13 games. He sat most recently against the Avalanche on Saturday.
“Every time he was scratched, he worked really hard in practice and he just waited for his opportunity,” Marco Sturm said. “And then he took advantage.”
But since Saturday, he’s gone from the ninth floor of TD Garden to the first line. Sturm tried him with Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak and liked the mix on Tuesday. When Lindholm left with an injury on Thursday, Sturm put Khusnutdinov between Pastrnak and Geekie and then trusted him enough to play in overtime.
In all, he played 15:20, a stretch that included power play, penalty kill and 3-on-3 overtime.
“Since he’s been back, he’s been really good. And even with Elias out, I put him back in the middle and he was excellent, too,” Sturm said. ” He’s actually very fun to watch right now. And that’s why I didn’t hesitate to put him out there on the 3-on-3.”
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