The Boston Bruins have started the 2023-24 season with a 2-0 record, but despite this success, they’ll face an early challenge that will help them build character and develop an identity. While the team’s season has kicked off on a positive note, the Bruins are still facing an uphill battle when it comes to building team chemistry and getting into their stride.
To start the season, they’ve only played two games in the span of four nights. Their season started on October 11 with a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, followed by a 3-2 win against the Nashville Predators on October 14. Unfortunately, the Bruins’ third game won’t take place until five days after their victory over the Predators, when they head to San Jose to face the Sharks on October 19. This will kick off the daunting California road trip that includes three games in four nights.
Every team will eventually face some sort of oddity in the schedule at some point in the season, but starting the year like this is less than ideal. This also isn’t the first time the schedule has become a challenge early in the season for the Bruins either as the same situation happened just two seasons ago.
This certainly puts a damper on things for the players looking to get warmed up early in the season, but it’s also disappointing for the fans excited to watch their team play hockey. Scheduling-making isn’t an easy task, however, and there are many factors to consider when seemingly head-scratching decisions are made. If things could be perfect at all times, the NHL would ensure that every team would face an evenly distributed schedule to keep fans and players happy.
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Still, this doesn’t change the fact that the Bruins’ ability to find consistency in the early goings of the season has been limited. Adding to this, playing the West Coast trip in California without much chemistry would be tough if the schedule were to be the only challenge to consider. Unfortunately, this predicament is further magnified by the numerous changes made to the roster during the offseason, including the departures of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Taylor Hall, Connor Clifton, Nick Foligno, Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, and Garnet Hathaway.
Bruins Aiming to Build Chemistry With New-Look Team
Sporadic scheduling can be a disruptive force for any professional sports team, but the Bruins, in particular, are burdened with the need to build chemistry and find their rhythm as they navigate this early-season turbulence due to these roster changes.
Rather than viewing this as a negative, it’s more advantageous for head coach Jim Montgomery and his coaching staff to see this as an opportunity and a teachable moment. Despite the significant roster losses the Bruins experienced during the offseason, there’s an internal expectation that this team can remain competitive and make a strong push for the postseason. This means that the team will encounter many challenges over the course of the season, and the key is to embrace these challenges as opportunities for growth. Rather than dwelling on these obstacles, the team can demonstrate, not only to themselves but to anyone watching, that they won’t be a pushover in their centennial season.
The NHL season is a grueling, 82-game marathon and the first few weeks of the season shouldn’t dictate the rest of the year. In fact, it will almost certainly be an afterthought sooner rather than later. It’s unrealistic to think that an early challenge like this would be damning in the long term, especially with the Bruins also already making changes to their lines heading into the West Coast trip. These changes indicate that the team isn’t yet content with their play in the early stages of the season despite a 2-0 record and will need more time to build chemistry anyway.
These lineup changes include both Matthew Poitras and Morgan Geekie moving into the top six, skating on a line with Brad Marchand. The Bruins are then moving Jake DeBrusk to his natural left wing to flank Pavel Zacha alongside David Pastrnak. The third line will see James van Riemsdyk and Charlie Coyle both exit the top six to skate alongside Trent Frederic as Montgomery aims to find some more offense at even strength.
“It’s a small sample size, it’s two games…we’re going on the road, that factors into it a little bit on why,” Montgomery said. “But I haven’t seen a lot of offensive 5-on-5 generation. Again, small sample size, but I trust my eye behind the bench, and when I follow it up and I see it on video, I just want to try something else to get a spark.”
This isn’t the first time the team has shuffled the lines as Montgomery has already tried to tinker with some things mid-game to try and get something going. It will also certainly not be the last time the Bruins see different line combinations as they aim to remain competitive in the East.
