If you have the right mindset as an NHLer, you’ll bounce back from being scratched with a big performance, or at least an honest effort, in hopes of convincing your coach not to do it again. Nick Robertson did that and then some on Saturday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs took on the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After finding himself in the press box for the last three games, Robertson re-entered the lineup following a David Kampf injury on Wednesday, and despite playing on the fourth line, scored the team’s two opening goals en route to a 5-0 win on home ice. It gave the team a big momentum boost right off the bat and paved the way for a dominant performance front to back. He acknowledged that there’s always a little extra fire in the system after being scratched for a few games.

“It gives me a reset, gives me even more hunger to get back in and be effective, try to make the most of every opportunity I’m given,” Robertson told reporters following the game. “Now it’s my job to come prepared and with the same mindset.”

Robertson has always shown a tendency to step up and make a big play when he gets a chance to return to the lineup, and his teammates have taken notice of it.

Robertson’s first goal came after his line pounced on a turnover by the Blue Jackets defenders, ripping one off the post and in. His second saw him pounce on a loose puck and use his signature five-hole shot to get another one past Elvis Merzlikins in the Columbus net.

“I think it’s so hard for the goaltender to read where it’s going, and you see it every day in practice,” William Nylander said on what makes Robertson’s shot so hard to defend. “He’s got an elite release.”

Going from an offence-friendly system under Sheldon Keefe to a dump-and-chase, defence first type of system under Craig Berube sounds like it would be a nightmare for somebody like Robertson, whose biggest weapon lies with his stick. But he’s played more under Berube than he ever did under Keefe while being able to stay true to what makes him so successful when he has a good game.

“That’s his game. That’s his skillset. He’s got that shot, he works on it all the time, I thought he was outstanding,” Morgan Rielly said of Robertson’s game. “I think all year he’s been doing things away from the puck that are good, and when he gets chances around the net, the puck goes in. You can see how dangerous he can be.”

While there have been justified gripes about his consistency in the past, the one thing you can’t take away from Robertson is his effort level. Even when he’s not scoring goals, he’s moving his feet and doing whatever he can to disrupt play around him.

“It’s huge, you know, he’s a very skilled player,” goaltender Anthony Stolarz said of his teammate. “He works extremely hard, so for him to seamlessly step back into the lineup and score two important goals for us and get us going, it’s huge for us and huge for his confidence, I’m sure.”

It’s fair to suggest that Robertson having a sole focus on offence may have hurt him in retrospect under Keefe, perhaps because he felt like he needed to be scoring all the time to stay in the lineup. But under Berube, it seems as though there’s been more of an emphasis to focus on working hard rather than overthinking your best traits. And with that, the goals will come naturally.

“Like I said this morning, he got taken out and then we were winning games. The guy’s got great speed, he can score goals, he can shoot,” Berube said of Robertson. “He’s played pretty good hockey for us this year, it’s not like he hasn’t. When he has the opportunity, he uses his speed really well and capitalizes on some chances. It’s being defensively responsible and managing the puck.”

For Robertson, the biggest thing he can do for himself right now is take advantage of Kampf’s injury and keep this momentum going. If the Leafs are winning games, like Berube alluded to, he won’t be taking Robertson out of the lineup just to do it. And there’s a prime opportunity to strengthen his case to stay in the lineup when the Leafs take on two potential playoff opponents in the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning next week.