Chalk one up for Mike O’Connell. Ian Moran did, literally. The defenseman was out in his Pittsburgh-area driveway playing hopscotch with his daughter when the phone rang. It was Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Craig Patrick, telling Moran he had been traded to Boston. “Have you got something to write with?” Patrick asked the man who had just become a former Penguin.

“Yes,” Moran said, referring to the piece of sidewalk chalk he had just used to draw the hopscotch squares. “So I wrote Mike’s number on the driveway,” said Moran. “His number’s still on the driveway in Pittsburgh.”

O’Connell tabbed Moran and Dan McGillis as the two men to lead the Bruins back from the rubble of last Sunday’s 8-5 debacle in Chicago. Both are 30 years old, and both are former Hockey East Rookies of the Year (Moran with Boston College, McGillis with Northeastern). Both know what they’re getting into, joining a team that has given up an average of nearly four goals a game since Valentine’s Day.

“There’s a lot of skilled offensive guys here,” said Moran of his new team, “guys that handle the puck really well. They’re guys that like to take some chances, and I think myself and Danny are two guys that aren’t really gamblers. Hopefully, we can sit back and allow the guys to play to their strong suits.”

No one has ever accused Moran of gambling on the ice. He comes to Boston without a goal in his last 110 games with Pittsburgh. He made a good first impression Thursday night, laying two big hits in his first shift and playing some 18 minutes of error-free defensive hockey. McGillis can bring a little more offense to the table, having scored 19 points with Philadelphia and San Jose this season. He sat out his first game in Boston, still recovering from a slight concussion (his second in two months).

“I can help offensively, but mostly I need to concentrate on our own end and get the job done there,” said McGillis. “I’ll try to be a stable defenseman back there. They want me to play physical in front of the net.”

Yes, Dan, that’s exactly what we want. The Bruins crease has become a hot zone of wild scrambles, opposing forwards crashing the net with reckless abandon. They have not been forced to pay the price for entering there. Without intimidation, the Bruins net has become a shooting gallery.

That was (somewhat) improved in Thursday’s win over New Jersey. The Bruins still collapsed defensively at times, but Moran’s presence helped settle things down. McGillis should help even more.

“They give us a little more size now,” said coach Robbie Ftorek, “and that’s a good thing.”

Actually, it’s a very good thing. It has been a long, hard season for the Bruins defense, and the toll of that season is starting to show on the likes of Nick Boynton, Jonathan Girard, and Bryan Berard, who was a healthy scratch Thursday. With the newcomers, and Rich Brennan about to return from injury, the Bruins will be carrying 10 blueliners. Assistant General Manger Jeff Gorton said the team will keep them all down the stretch.

That means the young, overworked defensemen who have carried the load this season will get a breather before the playoffs. And that, to echo Ftorek, is a good thing.

Lewiston native Tom Caron is a sports analyst for NESN telecasts of Red Sox and Bruins games.

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