Danton Heinen arrived in camp with nothing but a tryout agreement, some institutional knowledge of how the Bruins tick and a good relationship with coach Jim Montgomery from their days at the University of Denver.

But he soon turned his no-guarantee situation into an NHL minimum contract. Now he’s become a quietly indispensable member of the team. As Montgomery searches for the right line combinations, he had bumped up Heinen to a top-six role on a line with Brad Marchand and rookie center Matt Poitras for Thursday’s game against the San Jose Sharks. Whether it’s a combo that clicks remains to be seen, but at least Montgomery knows what he’ll get from Heinen.

“”What we’ve seen from him is a guy who’s playing the right way,”
said Montgomery. “He’s reloading well. We keep track of 50-50 battles and he’s winning at a 64% level. We’re getting the puck and he’s ending plays and we’re going the other way, or he’s keeping pucks alive in the offensive zone. He’s made a lot of good offensive plays, either support plays, usually, and he’s become more of a primary (threat). We’ve encouraged him to use his shot more and I think he’s done that in the last five games.”

Heinen’s offensive numbers aren’t eye-popping – 2-4-6 in 13 games going into Thursday – but he’s done the little things that can bump a player up in the lineup, especially for a team that’s struggling like the B’s and could use a little of Heinen’s focus in the top six, at least for the time being.

“I don’t think I try to change too much, just complement those guys any way I can. Obviously they’re high-skilled guys and offensive guys,” said Heinen.

Heinen was traded from the Bruins to Anaheim at the deadline in 2020 and then spent a couple of seasons in Pittsburgh. At 6-1, 185 pounds, Heinen can’t exactly be considered a “heavy” player. But when he started his second tour of duty, he said that he’d become a more responsible player and one who could win his share of battles. He wasn’t lying.

“That’s something I’ve tried to focus on. It hasn’t always been that way,” said Heinen. “I think I rely on my stick a lot, maybe too much in the past. I’ve tried to get better at getting body position and get my body in there and then rely on my stick to win it. A little bit of both there. It’s something I keep on trying to improve on.”

As he worked to earn a contract and a spot in the lineup, he remained laser-focused on the here and now and not when or if the contract was coming. Taking things day by day is a cliché that players use all the time, but it’s easier said than done when you’re without a contract.

“I think if I was in that position a little earlier, I might have thought a little different,” said Heinen. “Experience is a real thing. I’m not saying I’m an old guy or whatever. But I think you learn a little bit along the way and you learn that looking ahead doesn’t do a whole lot for you. You can only focus on what you can do that day.”….

As the B’s looked to snap their three-game losing streak against San Jose, Marchand was in full no-panic mode.

“These things happen. I think we were spoiled with last year and the season we had. That’s not the norm. Every team goes through stretches like this,” said the captain. “It’s all about getting back to playing the way we need to to have success. And not overthinking it. At the end of the day, it’s not a big deal. Once you start thinking that it is, then it will become that. It’s just about looking forward, looking toward doing the job (against the Sharks), putting our best game on the ice and focusing on what we need to do to have success. That’s being really good defensively. That’s always been how we’ve won around here and how we’ve been competitive. So we’ve got to get back to that and competing all over the ice. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”

Marchand said the team let down Jeremy Swayman in Monday’s game in Columbus, in which Montgomery pulled the goalie in an attempt to spark the team.

“I love Sway’s attitude. A very competitive kid who competes all day, every single day, in practice and games,” said Montgomery. “Unfortunately last game, we kind of threw him under the bus a little bit and Monty had to switch things up because we were playing bad in front of him. We let him down in that sense.”…

One of the byproducts of playing too slow is taking too many penalties. The B’s were tied for fourth in the league going into Thursday’s games with 90 minors.

“We’re taking a lot of stick penalties, too,” said Montgomery. “It’s a combination of not moving your feet, which is not working and reaching. When you’re reaching, you’re not using your feet to check. Good things don’t happen when you’re not being physical and a little lazy because you’re not working with your feet.”…

Ian Mitchell and Oskar Steen were the healthy scratches for Thursday.