Bruins
The Bruins never dipped below a .500 points percentage under Jim Montgomery until this season.
The Bruins fought back to beat Toronto in overtime on Saturday night. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Entering Saturday, the Boston Bruins entered uncharted territory under the direction of Jim Montgomery.
After three straight disappointing outings against Utah, Nashville and Dallas, the Bruins took a 3-4-1 record into their season opener with an equally struggling Toronto Maple Leafs squad.
The three-game skid dropped the Bruins below a .500 points percentage for the first time under Montgomery. Over the previous two years, the Bruins used an 8-1-0 start in 2022-23 to pace their record-setting regular season and followed that up with an 8-0-1 start to a century-long transition campaign.
This year, the Bruins didn’t have the luxury of a productive first month. But between the late arrival of Jeremy Swayman, some training camp injuries and an adjustment period for newcomers like Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, the B’s are likely expecting to encounter some transition hiccups to begin the third Montgomery mandate.
Indeed, the growing difficulties manifested themselves in the lack of depth on the wing, ill-timed penalties, turnovers, botched passes, defensive errors, a stagnant power play, game management errors and the decline in the goal production of some of their main members. They encountered a few of those hiccups again Saturday night.
Yet in their first Original Six game of the year, the Bruins finally put up a productive effort lasting over 60 minutes.
“I don’t think we were as worried about the score, but more [about] the way we wanted to play,” forward David Pastrnak said after Boston’s 4-3 overtime win over the Leafs. “We know why we didn’t score because we didn’t spend enough time in the offensive zone, and we also know why we didn’t. Obviously we want to improve, but it doesn’t happen overnight. We must therefore proceed day by day, step by step, and today is a great day. A great victory to move forward.
Unlike the first eight games, the Bruins spent the majority of the time on the offensive end. But they did not reap the immediate benefits.
Despite holding every 5-on-5 advantage over the first 20 minutes, the Bruins fell behind just 35 ticks into the second after Matthew Knies pounced on a loose puck in the slot after the hard drive from Auston Matthews in net.
Boston’s fast-paced power play answered 2:22 later, with Pastrnak scoring his sixth of the season. Yet, facing a 2-1 deficit, they returned to stagnation on their next two attempts, failing to convert William Nylander’s double minor for Pastrnak.
Some nights, a struggling team may have faltered. Instead, the Bruins responded.
Shortly after Nylander’s penalty expired, Justin Brazeau and Marc Kastelic capitalized on secondary goals past Anthony Stolarz just 36 seconds apart to give the Bruins their first lead of the night.
“It was huge, especially after the last little stretch we had,” Brazeau said after the Bruins overcame two second-period deficits. “It was good for us to kind of stay in and not let those things get to us and just go out for the next shift and attack.”
Indeed, the Bruins remained focused as they entered shutdown mode for the final 20 games. But their efforts almost failed.
Matthews forced overtime after getting behind Boston’s D to tip Mitch Marner’s feed past Jeremy Swayman. His tying marker came just seconds after Pavel Zacha jumped offside to cancel out Brad Marchand’s attempt into an empty net.
Still, the Bruins remained calm. And Marchand had a golden chance to redeem himself after Matthews turned the puck over to Boston’s offensive end.
In the middle of a 2-on-1 sequence with Pastrnak, a snake-bitten Marchand knocked the puck out of the air on a rebound to get out of the schneid at 2:26 of overtime.
“It was good for the group to be rewarded for playing the right way,” Marchand said. “Sometimes you do it for a period or two, and it doesn’t go the way you want it to, and you change your ways and get into bad habits. We didn’t do it tonight when they scored late. We just kept playing the right way and it paid off.
The Bruins can breathe a little easier after stopping the proverbial bleeding. But they know that it will take more than one victory against a passionate rival to reach this milestone at the start of the season.
The ups and downs will continue throughout the 82 games. This time, they face adversity early in their regular season.
As they continue to build their identity — and perhaps add needed depth (at least temporarily) with Tyler Johnson patiently waiting to sign a short-term deal — the Bruins have established a decent plan after persevering toward Saturday’s victory.
“It’s one game, and it’s not going to completely change things,” Marchand said. “But it’s a great way to realize that if we play the right way, we’re a good team. It’s a great group out there, a great offense, and it’s a great way to start building our foundation and understanding how we need to play to be successful.
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