Mason Lohrei joins growing list of impressive Bruins rookies with ‘dynamite’ debut

And the personnel matched up against him? Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and a stacked Maple Leafs forward corps that has made many seasoned D-men look foolish over the years.

Of course, one would be hard-pressed to discern between a fresh-faced rookie in Lohrei and a poised NHL vet, at least based on his performance on Thursday.

On a night where Boston was without three starting defensemen, Lohrei served as the latest Bruins prospect to thrive up at hockey’s highest level — logging 21:28 of ice time in his club’s 3-2 shootout victory over the Maple Leafs.

“He was dynamite. He played really well,” Montgomery said of Lohrei. “His poise with the puck in all three zones was very noticeable. Made a lot of intelligent hockey plays.”

Lohrei’s impressive debut came at a crucial time for a Bruins team skating without Matt Grzelcyk (upper-body injury), Charlie McAvoy (suspension), and Derek Forbort (undisclosed injury).

A blue-chip talent in Boston’s prospect pipeline for years, Lohrei’s profile is that of a puck-moving blueliner capable of eventually quarterbacking a power-play unit over time.

He’s not the first defenseman with a knack for orchestrating plays in the offensive zone. But few skaters at his position also measure out at 6-foot-5, 211 pounds.

Matt Poitras’ emergence as a potential top-six pivot and Johnny Beecher’s developing role as a fourth-line stalwart have further bolstered a 9-0-1 Bruins squad.

But a major jump in Lohrei’s development this winter could further elevate an already imposing Boston D corps, especially on the offensive side of the ice.

“You can see in training camp — he’s gifted,” Brad Marchand said of Lohrei’s game. “The kid skates well. Really smart with the puck. I think what I liked about his game tonight is he didn’t try to do too much.

“That’s where you can get in trouble a little bit, when you have that kind of talent and ability, sometimes you want to try to do a little bit too much and he didn’t do that. He made strong plays, he competed hard and he took what was in front of him. It was a really good game.”

It didn’t take long for Lohrei to etch his name into the scoresheet — recording a secondary helper on Pavel Zacha’s opening tally at 18:51 in the opening period. 

But Lohrei’s ability to regularly push the puck out of the D zone and hit teammates with passes on the tape served as the best counter against Toronto’s high-octane offense.

During Lohrei’s 17:34 of 5v5 ice time, just 33 percent of his shifts started in the offensive zone.

Despite those unfavorable starts, especially for a rookie, the Bruins still held an 11-6 edge in shots on goal when Lohrei was out on the ice — as well as a 6-0 advantage in high-danger scoring chances.

Limiting mistakes and cutting down the time spent in Boston’s own end played into Lohrei’s strong debut. But he also stood tall when asked to snuff out chances around Jeremy Swayman — finishing with 1:43 of reps on the penalty kill.