The Boston Bruins needed to shake off the rust from Tuesday’s downfall to the Florida Panthers. With the Montreal Canadiens coming to town, it set the stage for a great Original Six matchup and an opportunity to right the ship.
It was close early on, but the Bruins were able to pull away. With a collective effort from their entire team, they defeated the Canadiens 6-4. Jeremy Swayman was able to win his first start after signing the big contract extension and David Pastrnak scored his 350th career NHL goal.
The Bruins did a lot of good things in this game and different things stood out that paid dividends in the victory. Let’s dive in.
Bruins’ Defense Activated
When you look at this roster on paper for the Bruins, the strength lies within its goaltending and defense. When you really break it down, you can argue it’s more of a shutdown unit than an offensive powerhouse. They are not like the Carolina Hurricanes, who actively have their defensive group part of the offensive game plan. However, in last night’s matchup, the Bruins saw their defense activated into the offensive game plan, and it paid huge dividends, especially early on.
It was a disallowed goal, but Hampus Lindholm did find the back of the net on the power play. Eventually, the Bruins would get another crack with the man advantage. A defenseman scored the first goal for the Bruins and it was Charlie McAvoy.
The good thing with McAvoy and Lindholm is that they look more confident with the puck on their sticks. Sometimes they can look to make that extra pass instead of taking the shot. In this game, they had no issue firing the puck towards the net and creating chances.
That’s not all. In his first game in front of the Bruins crowd, Nikita Zadorov got in on the action. He had two assists and also assisted on the Elias Lindholm goal in the first period. It was not just the production, but how the defensemen impacted the game.
Zadorov (61.76) and Lindholm (61.29) led the Bruins defensemen in Corsi for percentage (CF%). With them on the ice, the Bruins were controlling the puck at a higher rate. McAvoy was not far behind and was driving the offense from the back end. With him on the ice, the Bruins held an edge in shots on goal (11-6), and he finished with the fifth-best expected goals for percentage (xGF%) of 67.80. Good things were happening with the big three on the back end and they were eager to jump into the play.
The only knock on the back end is that they need to cover the front of the net better. In the first game against the Panthers, the Panthers scored four of their six goals from the high-danger areas of the ice. Against the Canadiens, another three goals found their way into the net from that area. The Bruins’ defense was good at driving the play last night, but they have to be sharper in that area of the ice.
Depth Prevails in this Matchup
All the attention will be on the top two lines. They are the ones driving the bus and taking this team to its next destination. Lindholm did score and Pastrnak also grabbed himself a goal. However, it was the depth that propelled the Bruins to victory and the ones who made the biggest impacts offensively.
Related: 3 Keys to a Bruins Home Opener Win Over the Canadiens
Let’s start with the fourth line because they had a huge night for the Bruins. The line of Mark Kastelic, Cole Koepke, and John Beecher was great for the Bruins. They scored three of the Bruins’ six goals and brought that extra layer of production. It was never anything flashy. It was north and south hockey and they kept it simple, and sometimes simple is a good thing. When it came to quality, this line delivered. When on the ice, the trio outshot the Canadiens 6-3 and generated the most shot attempts from the high-danger areas of any Bruins line. They played physical, forechecked hard, and created chances.
Kastelic had two goals and showed that he is more than a guy that can hit and drop the gloves. Koepke was all over the ice, and had a three-point game for himself. The third line for the Bruins was poor in the first game and it led to a change by head coach Jim Montgomery. Riley Tufte replaced Max Jones and the third line was much more dynamic and faired out a little bit better.
As good as things were at five on five, the power play was also something that stood out.
Power Play Was Encouraging
During the 2023-24 season, the Bruins power play finished 14th in the league with a 22.2% success rate. It was not bad, but you felt it was lacking at times. Last night, it was encouraging watching the power play and it instilled optimism going forward.
The Bruins saw 7:35 of total power play time in this matchup. When they had the man advantage, they certainly got their looks and generated good chances. It was not just that though. The puck movement was crisp and tape-to-tape passes were being made. The units found ways to cycle the puck and get their looks.
They were not afraid to create attempts, firing 16 towards the net. Both units generated 11 scoring chances and McAvoy got that lone goal.
It didn’t need to be perfect, but it instilled optimism seeing how fluent they looked with the man advantage and it’s something to keep an eye on during this homestand.
Bruins’ All-Around Effort Leads to Victory
This was just a great way to win a hockey game. While it was not perfect, the Bruins got an all-around effort and it helped lead them to victory. The defense was very active and even more so with the man advantage. It’s also comforting to have your depth chip in. Overall, it was a great win for the Bruins, as they prepare for a good Los Angeles Kings team Saturday afternoon.
