It was nearly a month ago when Torey Krug was taking Boston by storm as he was inserted into the lineup due to a depleted defense core.

Krug made a name for himself versus the New York Rangers with four goals and an assist in five games. He also scored in his first two playoff games of his career.

But now in the Stanley Cup Final, Krug’s game has tailed off a bit including a game-changing questionable pass in Game 1 against the Blackhawks.

Since then, Krug has adjusted and regrouped. He is playing his game and not worrying about the fans who wanted him benched for Game 2.

“I thought I did play my game pretty well in Game 2, jumping on the ice when I could, clearing the puck a little bit better,” Krug said. “Basically, there are still some things I can fix, but I felt very confident especially in overtime. We were up in the offensive zone a little bit more than we were the whole game. I felt a lot better.”

As a young player, Krug looks up to many of his teammates as he tries to see what he can learn from the veterans. Krug has learned a lot from assistant captain Patrice Bergeron and Krug has nothing but respect for Bergeron.

“I think watching Patrice what’s amazing is that he brings the same level of competition and preparation every game and every skate,” Krug said. “It’s amazing watching him prepare. I said it about and Chara as well, but those are two guys that you look up to. It’s amazing the preparation and work ethic that they put into this.”

Krug played with a hop in his step Saturday night in Chicago showing no ill-effects of his lapse in Game 1 laying a big hit in the neutral zone getting the B’s back to their style of hockey.

“I think that’s just our game,” Krug said. “It’s not like we go out of our way to try and do things like that. That’s just something that we have to focus on and that we do and we have to do that to be successful overall.”

Head Coach Claude Julien knew his player would bounce back after the Game 1 loss and reiterated his confidence for Krug.

“Extremely well,” Julien said when asked how Krug played in Game 2. “He didn’t lose any confidence. Again, you look at Game 2, he pushed the puck up the middle again, was able to come back, nothing came out of it. But, you know, his game continued to go in the right direction.”

Krug did not change his game one bit and that is crucial to have with a young player and Julien respects him for that.

“So, he doesn’t lack confidence,” Julien said. “That’s what I want from that young player. Don’t lack confidence. The odd mistake, I know it’s the Cup Finals, but there’s mistakes made in the Cup Finals like anywhere else.”

“I thought he handled himself well after some of the heat he was taking from the outside for that mistake in Game 1,” Julien said. “We talked about it. I wanted him to go out there and play with the same confidence he always has. He answered that.”

Krug will look to help give the Black and Gold a 2-1 series lead tonight in Boston as they host the Blackhawks for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.