Boston Bruins
“He did exactly what he did all year long. And that’s why he’s playing [on the] first line, right?”
Marat Khusnutdinov has made an impact this playoff series for Boston. AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes
April 29, 2026 | 7:18 PM
4 minutes to read
Bruins’ Marat Khusnutdinov has zero points this postseason. It hasn’t stopped him from playing winning hockey.
On an imposing Bruins roster with an average profile of 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, forward Marat Khusnutdinov may not exactly strike fear into opposing puck carriers when they peek over their shoulders at incoming forecheckers.
What the 23-year-old forward boasts in 0-to-60 speed and slick hands, he doesn’t complement with a bruising frame at 5-foot-11 and 184 pounds.
But, in his first taste of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Moscow native hasn’t shirked away from the bruising play that becomes commonplace at this juncture of the NHL calendar.
And, as the Bruins try to scrap and claw their way back in this first-round series against the Sabres, Khusnutinov is drawing praise from his head coach for his willingness to drag others into the fight.
“He did great,” Marco Sturm said Wednesday of the young forward, who skated in a top-line role during Boston’s Game 5 win in Buffalo on Tuesday night. “First of all, he hunts pucks. He kept pucks. That’s exactly why I wanted him to be in that line.
“This kid played a lot of minutes. And when you have a guy like him, he was so exhausted. So then I can tell he did his work, and I thought he was great.”
Through five games so far against Buffalo, Khusnutdinov has yet to record a point. But, the fleet-footed forward has made his presence felt elsewhere.
In each of Boston’s last two games against Buffalo, it’s been Khusnutdinov who has led his club in hits, doling out 12 total smacks in those two bouts.
Along with a team-best five hits in Game 5, Khusnitonov helped set the stage for David Pastrnak’s overtime winner — negating a potential game-winning play for Buffalo down the other end of the sheet.
As soon as Khusnutdinov hopped over the boards near the midway point in overtime, he clearly understood his assignment.
As Buffalo forward Peyton Krebs crossed over the blue line and into Boston’s end of the ice, a potential Grade-A bid presented itself for the home club.
With speedster Ryan McLeod slipping past Andrew Peeke in coverage, all Krebs had to do was hit his fellow forward in stride to generate a clean look at Jeremy Swayman — and a potential series-winning tally for the Sabres.
Had Krebs (19) not been impeded by Khusnutdinov, he could have set up McLeod for a clean breakaway chance against Jeremy Swayman in overtime.
But, Krebs did not get the pass off due to Khusnutdinov’s puck pressure.
As Khusnutdinov closed in on, Krebs had little time to fire the puck out of danger. The biscuit instead ricocheted off the boards and fluttered forward to Hampus Lindholm.
Lindholm didn’t hesitate, sending a stretch pass down the other end of the ice that Pastrnak corralled just before crossing over Buffalo’s blue line.
Seconds later, Pastrnak kept Boston’s season alive for at least a few more days — besting Alex Lyon with a series of dekes before tucking the offering into twine to clinch a 2-1 win.
“Marat did a great job hunting,” Pastrnak said postgame. “Took a nice swing at the stick and it bounced to Hampus. In that moment, as soon as I saw Hampus had the puck on his stick, I turned my skating toward their net. I knew there was a chance.”
Khusnutdinov — one of several younger players who have emerged as key cogs in Sturm’s reworked forward corps this season — finished with 21:30 of ice time in Game 5, the third-highest TOI among Bruins forwards behind only Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha.
That uptick in minutes was a byproduct of Sturm’s latest lineup reshuffle — with Sturm elevating Khusnutdinov to a top-line role alongside both Pastrnak and Zacha.
After several games where Pastrnak failed to tilt the ice in Boston’s favor alongside Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie, this augmented trio put Buffalo on its heels Tuesday night.
During the Khusnutdinov-Zacha-Pastrnak line’s 16:13 of 5-on-5 reps, the Bruins held a 10-3 edge in shots on goal and a 6-1 advantage in high-danger scoring chances (per Natural Stat Trick).
Pairing a shifty skater willing to do the dirty work in Khusnutdinov with an offensive juggernaut in Pastrnak has yielded strong results all season. In the regular season, Boston outscored opponents, 34-18, over the 530 minutes of 5-on-5 action where Pastrnak and Khusnutdinov were out on the ice together.
Khusnutdinov’s efforts haven’t resulted in his first career point in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That might change in short order if Khusnutdinov’s skating and puck pressure carry over into a Game 6 showdown at TD Garden.
“He did exactly what he did all year long,” Sturm said of Khusnutdinov’s play. “And that’s why he’s playing [on the] first line, right? Because he does so many good things. I wish he would score more goals. He had a chance, a very good chance.
“But he’s just one of those guys … he’s always at the right spot. He does the details very well. He’s very, very smart, and he takes care of the other guys, believe it or not.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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