When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Tyler Bertuzzi to a 1-year, $5.5M deal on July 2nd this past off-season, they were hoping for more secondary scoring than the 7 goals he had through his first 55 games. Last night, celebrating his 29th birthday, Bertuzzi found the back of the net three times to help the Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
Both Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly acknowledged that Bertuzzi had been playing great hockey over the past couple of weeks and was due for some good puck luck, and even Sheldon Keefe had to chime in on Bertuzzi's play of late with how well he's been going.
Prior to scoring against the Anaheim Ducks on February 17th, Bertuzzi had one goal in his previous 29 games, but now has 4 in his last five games including his hattrick last night. As the regular season winds down and the games intensify, Bertuzzi is finding his groove and the Leafs are hoping that this is a sign of things to come for their prized off-season signing.
