After practically half the Bruins’ roster was turned over after their 65-win season, they entered the membership’s one centesimal season with a big factor of the unknown hanging over them.
And with the season opener behind them, they nonetheless are very a lot a piece in progress. But at the least they banked their first two factors of the season.
The B’s leaned into their strengths – goaltending and protection – and obtained targets from David Pastrnak (2) and Trent Frederic to beat the younger Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1 on the Garden on Wednesday.
What did the coach consider the general group recreation?
“Very average,” stated Jim Montgomery, who was mixing up his traces by the second interval. “I didn’t think we grew our game. But it’s the first game of the year. I think back to our first game last year and the only thing I liked about last year more than this year is we played faster. I didn’t think we played fast enough, consistently enough. But you expect there’s going to be a lot of things to work on. You expect that in Game 1. We got the result. We did a lot of good things I thought in the third period to build our game, especially playing with a lead.”
They obtained contributions from rookies Matt Poitras (first NHL help), John Beecher (strong fourth-line work, first NHL combat) and prodigal son Milan Lucic (help on game-winner) within the win. For Lucic, returning to the Garden as a Bruin for the primary time since 2015 and with so many retired teammates from the 2011 Stanley Cup within the constructing, it was an emotion-packed evening.
“Obviously, it’s a special time in your life, those years that I spent here. To be able to come back to a place that’s so special to me, it’s good to have emotion and show emotion,” stated Lucic.
It was a aggressive, if inelegant, contest.
The intriguing subplot to the B’s Centennial season opener was the arrival of Connor Bedard, thought-about by most observers to be the following nice generational expertise.
And at 5:37 of the primary interval, he joined a quite elite group – he scored his first profession aim towards the Bruins, simply as Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux had finished earlier than him. Former Bruins Taylor Hall and Ryan Donato picked up the assists, but it surely was Bedard’s lightning quickness behind the web that made the aim occur. He took the puck under the aim line and, with Linus Ullmark leaning a method, the rookie darted to the open aspect, beat Ullmark’s proper pad and tucked it residence.
That was the final time Ullmark can be overwhelmed. He would later make a cease on Bedard (six pictures on internet) on a partial breakaway.
The B’s evened it up within the first, thanks partly to their very own proficient rookie. Hanging onto the puck, Poitras noticed an open Brandon Carlo on the proper level. The lanky defenseman fired a shot towards the web that Frederic tipped previous goalie Arvid Soderblom at 11:22.
“I felt pretty good out there. It was nice to get that first point out of the way and then everything kind of rolls from there,” stated Poitras, who received 5-of-7 attracts and bought bumped as much as play with Brad Marchand later within the recreation.
The B’s held a 13-9 shot benefit within the first, however with three new centermen, they weren’t fairly in sync, particularly on particular groups. They didn’t produce a lot on the lone energy play they’d within the first and so they needed to survive Chicago’s one man-advantage.
The B’s finest line of the sport was the fourth line of Lucic, Beecher and Jakub Lauko and, after an prolonged shift contained in the Chicago zone, Lauko drew a penalty within the second. The B’s energy play woes continued, nonetheless, and the B’s barely pressured Soderblom.
Marchand later took a shift with Beecher and Lauko and he, too, drew a tripping penalty, this time on Bedard. But once more, there was nothing doing on the PP.
“I think every year the power play’s a work in progress,” stated Montgomery, whose group held a 34-21 shot benefit. “If you have years where guys come back, that makes it easier. But there’s a rhythm they’ve got to get into and that takes time.”
After the B’s needed to kill a penalty of their very own, they lastly took the lead at 13:09 of the second. With Morgan Geekie pressuring Jarred Tinordi alongside the boards, Lucic stole the puck within the impartial zone and broke in on a 2-on-1 with Pastrnak. With each gamers on their off wings, Lucic flipped a backhand go to Pastrnak and the sharpshooter snapped it previous Soberblom’s glove.
While Poitras bought his first NHL level within the first interval, fellow rookie Beecher notched his first NHL combat within the third interval. And he didn’t have a lot of a selection. Beecher hit Cole Guttman from behind and bought two minutes for it. Jason Dickinson didn’t just like the hit and went after Beecher. The rookie took a few good pictures on the noggin, however hung in there and delivered the final shot of the combat earlier than the officers broke it up. Dickinson bought the 2-5-10 for the instigator whereas Beecher bought two for the unique infraction and a five-minute combating main.
“He did well. He could use a little work, so I could give him a few pointers but good to see him stand up for himself there,” stated Lucic.
The B’s pressured Soderblom to make a number of key saves within the third to maintain the Hawks inside hanging till he was pulled for an additional skater. Then the B’s ultimately drove the stake in when Marchand broke out of the defensive zone and fed Pastrnak for the empty-netter.
Source: www.bostonherald.com