The Boston Bruins’ needs have been clear-cut for months. They could use a second-line winger and/or a third-line center. And there is a sizable subset who crave a little bit of old-school toughness.

For those folks, Trent Frederic made an awfully good first impression in the Bruins’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets at TD Garden on Tuesday night. The 20-year-old rookie, the latest tryout for the third-line center spot, saw 8:29 of ice time and had a pretty solid debut, getting two shots on net, delivering a couple of hits and winning 4 of 7 draws.

But it was what he did at 16:16 of the second period that got the building jazzed like not much else can. There already was a buzz in the air after Kevan Miller blasted Brandon Tanev with a big open-ice hit and then answered for it with a heavyweight bout against Adam Lowry. Less than a minute later, Frederic found himself in his first NHL fight, against Tanev after a scrum in front of the Winnipeg net. And what a fight it was, with the two combatants swinging away with haymakers.

Tanev caught Frederic midway through with a good shot to the left eye, which produced a welt under his eyebrow. But it didn’t shake the 6-foot-2, 203-pound Frederic, who kept right on slinging until he knocked Tanev down to the ice with a flurry of rights.

The crowd roared, the NESN cameras caught his parents Bob and Gaye missing by a mile on what would have been an epic high-five and Frederic jubilantly bounced down the tunnel with the first notch on his belt

Now, die-hard members of the Fight Club will have you believe that teams always grab control of a game when such moments happen for your side. That clearly is not the case. The Bruins proceeded to spit up a 2-1 lead in the third on two Kyle Connor goals 34 seconds apart before coming back to tie, then finally losing on Connor’s shootout goal.

But while Frederic’s moment did not spur Boston to victory, it certainly caught the attention of his teammates and coaching staff. And whether he’s the man for the job or not, Frederic is the first third-line pivot candidate to announce so emphatically that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win the job.

“Listen, he said it. He said, ‘I came out of school to play in the National Hockey League,’ … and I think he means it,” Coach Bruce Cassidy said of the former Wisconsin Badger. “He’s a big body, he’s got some of that in him where he’s willing to do that. So if those are your strengths or the intangibles that you bring, then you need to bring them. And he did.

“I think he knows that there’s a window here to show what he can and if that’s part of it, then get after it. I don’t expect him to do that every night, but a guy came at him and he was willing to stand up for himself, so good for him. I think he did a lot of other things well. He was trying to be physical against a physical line. I think he’ll endear himself to the fans if he plays like that. And to his teammates. And the coaching staff.”

Cassidy liked his overall game, but the coach wasn’t about to downplay the effect Frederic’s attitude and competitive spirit could stoke in other youngsters.

“I thought he played very well and as advertised. He played between the dots, strong on pucks, played behind their ‘D,’ made a few plays. He had a chance to shoot it and he did,” Cassidy said. “And a great scrap. Good for him. We need some of that. There are a lot of younger players in the league now so it can’t be (Zdeno Chara and David Backes) policing 20-year-olds every night.”

One of the first things Frederic heard after the game was that his parents were trending on social media.

“I was like ‘Uh-oh,'” said Frederic with a smile.

While the strapping center would have preferred his big moment to be a game-winning goal, he’ll take whatever he can get.

“It was really cool,” Frederic said. “My parents probably showed a lot of emotion because they followed my brothers around and stuff. … A fight isn’t as cool as a goal so I can only image what they would do then.”

There were a few in the building who were just as a happy with the former as they would have been with the latter.

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