Nashville Predators forward Philip Tomasino scored from the unlikeliest of places Monday.

The bench.

Scratch that.

Philip Tomasino was on the bench when he learned he'd been credited with an unlikely assist on Michael McCarron's first-period goal during a 4-3 overtime loss against the Ottawa Senators.

A stride or two before he reached the bench for a shift change, Tomasino backhanded a routine pass to Roman Josi, Josi smoked the puck off of Senators goalie Mads Gogaard. The puck deflected to an in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time McCarron.

Tomasino had his assist.

"I didn't even know we scored," Tomasino said Wednesday before the team's game against the Los Angeles Kings. "Then I got up and I'm like, 'Oh, that's sick.'

"I didn't even know what happened. Then you see the bounce. Then they announced my name with the assist, I'm like, 'That's crazy.' Never had one of those in my life."

Eight minutes after that assist, Tomasino was trucking toward the Senators' net, puck stuck to his stick and Senators defenseman Tomas Chabot's stick stuck between his legs.

Tomasino managed to sneak said puck over Sogaard's left shoulder just before Chabot's stick sent him to the ice.

Tomasino called it one of the "nicer" goals he's scored in his pro career. It was his sixth of this season.

All of the above, that was the good news for Tomasino.

'Little things' have limited minutes for Philip Tomasino

The bad news?

The bench is where Tomasino found himself more than he expected during the rest of Monday's game.

He played a team-low-by-far 9 minutes, 43 seconds, nearly three minutes fewer than his season average and the second fewest he's played this season.

At least he wasn't a healthy scratch, like he has been too times for his liking this year. Tomasino has played in 40 of the Predators' 51 games as the team heads into the All-Star break with a 26-23-2 record that leaves them third in the Western Conference wild-card playoff picture after a loss Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings.

Tomasino's minutes Monday became more scarce as the Predators' early 3-0 lead did a disappearing act.

"When I get the chance to play, I think I've proven I can play and belong here," Tomasino said. "Just gotta get the chance, and when I'm in there just do everything to help the team win. I think I've done a pretty good job of that all year, not only recently.

"Listen, the coaches put out whoever they feel can get the job done," he said. "I don't have too much say in that."

The man who does, first-year coach Andrew Brunette, called Tomasino's goal "great," said he maybe should have played Tomasino more.

But he said there was a reason Tomasino was on the ice less and less, and not at all in overtime.

"The little things that plague him a little bit, the structures and details of our system, are glaring at times," Brunette said. "So you don't feel completely comfortable and confident in games that are tight.

"He's gotten much better as the season has progressed, but for us to lean on him late in games, he needs to find another level."

'He has to earn that trust'

Tomasino continued that climb Wednesday, when he scored again against the Los Angeles Kings in front of new Tennessee Titans coach Brian Callahan. His seventh goal of the season is another step closer to Brunette's hopes for the 22-year-old.

But these things can take time. They take patience.

Something that's not always in high supply.

"He hasn't done it all year; he has to earn that trust," Brunette said of Tomasino's minutes during pivotal times in a game. "His whole 200-foot game has to be at a place we're comfortable putting him in those situations.

Tomasino knows there's room at the inn for improvement.

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He knows he needs to "do everything I can" to continue to do that.

"Whether it's puck battles, little stick battles, obviously scoring," he said.

He wasn't done.

"Make a nice play defensively. Just try to do all the little things right," he said.

There's nothing wrong with that.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators: Why Philip Tomasino hasn't been playing more