5 takeaways as Bruins' offense explodes in preseason win over Flyers

For two periods, Tuesday night was a ho-hum, 1-1 preseason game between the Bruins and Flyers. Then Boston's offense came roaring to life in the third period, scoring four unanswered goals en route to a 5-1 victory, the Bruins' second in as many preseason games.

Morgan Geekie broke the seal with a power-play goal off a nice slap pass from David Pastrnak. Brian Halonen made it 3-1 when he buried a rebound off a Frederic Brunet shot, with Brunet picking up his second primary assist of the night. Nikita Zadorov fed Elias Lindholm to push it to 4-1, and then Mikey Eyssimont capped off the scoring with his second goal of the game off a good setup from Dans Locmelis.

Jeremy Swayman played all 60 minutes in his first start of the preseason and stopped 20 of the 21 shots he faced.

Here are five takeaways from the night:

Peterka buzzes on 2 different lines in debut

He didn't end up with a point, but one of the most noticeable Bruins all night was JJ Peterka, who was donning the Boston jersey in game action for the first time after being acquired for two first-round picks this summer.

Peterka started the game on the second line with Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt, in the No. 2 right wing spot left open by Viktor Arvidsson's departure. They were buzzing around the offensive zone, displaying the same chemistry that was evident through the first few days of training camp. Peterka, in particular, kept several offensive-zone possessions alive with good puck pressure and an active stick. They just missed the finishing touch on a few golden opportunities.

In the third period, Bruins coach Marco Sturm switched up his top six, largely because the first line of Pastrnak, Lindholm and Geekie wasn't doing much. Peterka moved up to first-line left wing alongside Lindholm and Pastrnak, and the move really sparked the line. They had several quality scoring chances, and Peterka and Pastrnak seemed to have immediate chemistry despite not yet practicing together.

The new second line of Zacha, Mittelstadt and Geekie also created a few chances, so it will be interesting to see if Sturm sticks with these new combinations with now just a week to go before opening night on Sept. 29.

Pastrnak wasn't happy about his own game afterwards, but he did seem to be a fan of playing with Peterka.

"I think it was a lot of fun," Pastrnak said of their period together. "I think you could feel the energy. Came up on our line, and we had a lot of good looks. So, it was fun. Obviously, it was just one period, but he seems like a very smart player with good skill, and great on the forecheck. So yeah, it was fun."

First look at new power play

The Bruins hadn't done any special teams work until Tuesday's morning skate. On Tuesday night, they got to roll out their new-look top unit in game action for the first time, and the early returns were encouraging.

Peterka is the most notable change, as he comes in to man the right elbow. Pastrnak, who spent a lot on both flanks last year, was in his long-time home in the left circle. That bumped Geekie to the middle of the ice in the bumper spot. Zacha took net-front duties while Hampus Lindholm manned the point, where he is expected to be to start the season while Charlie McAvoy serves a six-game suspension.

The Bruins' first power play of the night was a little sloppy, but still generated one good look when Peterka set up Pastrnak in the high slot. The second one took just 14 seconds to score thanks to some excellent puck movement. Peterka held the puck on the right before moving it up top to Lindholm, who then set up Pastrnak for what everyone thought would be one of Pastrnak's patented one-timers. Instead, he slapped it right to Geekie's stick in the bumper for a pretty redirect goal.

Geekie in the bumper is an interesting look. He won't get as many one-timer opportunities as he would in the left circle, which might seem counter-intuitive given how great of a shot he has. But Geekie played a lot of bumper coming up – really, up until last season – and feels comfortable there, and Bruins power play coach Steve Spott believes he can be elite there.

"Spotter always said he really believes in Morgan Geekie being one of the best bumpers in the league," Sturm said. "Because of his release and his hands, he can be really, really dangerous. And having overall those weapons everywhere, I think it's just going to help us. But like I said, he needs more reps to feel even more comfortable. I'm glad he had a nice touch today for a goal, so hopefully he believes in that role too, because we do."

Brunet continues to state his case

The only Bruin who has played in both preseason games thus far is rookie defenseman Frederic Brunet, and he has now played very well in both games.

Brunet had two primary assists Tuesday by getting his shot through from the point. The first got tipped in by Eyssimont in front, and the second produced a rebound for Halonen to put back. He was also involved in the build-up to Eyssimont's second goal, pinching to keep the puck in the offensive zone a few seconds before the goal.

Brunet was definitely more involved offensively Tuesday than Sunday, but at the other end of the ice he's been a steady presence in both games, consistently winning battles and starting breakouts. He had a key block late in Sunday's game, and another good one Tuesday on a slot chance for Owen Tippett.

"He had another good night," Sturm said of Brunet. "He's been rock solid. There's still little details in his game we have to clean up. But overall, having his first few games here this year under his belt, he looks very comfortable. So, that's a good thing. We're gonna keep working with him, but he's a good kid, wants to learn, and for sure he's going to get better and better."

If he hasn't already, it certainly feels like Brunet is getting very close to locking himself into the Bruins' initial 23-man roster to start the season. The better question might be: Will he be in the opening night lineup? He has yet to take regular reps with an opening night lock, as he played with the suspended McAvoy on Sunday and with AHLer Max Guenette on Tuesday.

Eyssimont, Locmelis make a push

The forward bubble is looking just as crowded as the D bubble. James Hagens and Matt Poitras both turned in strong performances on Sunday, pushing themselves to the right side of the bubble in the process.

On Tuesday, Mikey Eyssimont and Dans Locmelis dropped their version of Lee Corso's "Not so fast, my friend!" Eyssimont scored twice, going to the front of the net on the first and ripping a one-timer past Flyers goalie Aleksei Kolosov on the second. Locmelis set up the second with a nice steal and pass over, won five of his seven faceoffs, and just played a really good 200-foot game.

Their line, which had Tanner Jeannot at left wing, was arguably the Bruins' best from start to finish Tuesday. They out-attempted the Flyers 14-6 during their 5-on-5 shifts, outshot them 6-2, and outscored them 2-0.

Eyssimont fell out of favor in the second half last year and had kind of become written off by fans and media alike this summer. He might still be on the outside looking in for a roster spot, but he certainly made that a tougher decision with his performance Tuesday.

"He's been very focused throughout camp every day," Sturm said of Eyssimont. "He's been good. He's played with pace. He's played with grit. He's been really good. This kid, he's been around in the league for a little bit too now. I think he realizes now he also needs to step up his game, because he wants to make the team, and that's good. He's gonna make it hard on me, and that's good. That's exactly what we want. We want to have a good competition here in training camp, and that's exactly what he's doing right now."

The 22-year-old Locmelis has also had a very good training camp so far and certainly looks like someone who could be ready to contribute in the not-too-distant future. Unfortunately for Locmelis, he is still waivers-exempt, so sending him down to Providence to start the season is an easy move just from a roster management perspective. It also wouldn't be the worst thing for him to play a ton of minutes as Providence's No. 1 center, especially coming off a shoulder injury that hampered him pretty much all of last year. Locmelis would likely need to beat out at least one of Poitras or Hagens to make the team.

Pastrnak shuts down Tottenham tweet

With everyone trying to figure out who's going to be the Bruins' next captain, some wondered if Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur had inadvertently let the cat out of the bag on Tuesday.

Here's the setup: Tottenham player Xavi Simons was in Boston last week while rehabbing a torn ACL and spent a few days working out at Warrior Ice Arena, the Bruins' practice facility. On Tuesday, in a post recapping the trip, Tottenham's club Twitter account referred to Pastrnak as "captain" alongside a photo of the two players exchanging jerseys.

Pastrnak seemed to get a kick out of the social media flare-up, but advised everyone to not read into it.

"I got a couple texts from it," Pastrnak said postgame. "But I mean, it's a football team. I don't think you guys should worry about a football team. But yeah, it was great to have Xavi around and meet up with him."

For the record, I genuinely don't think Tottenham's digital team has any insight whatsoever into who's getting the 'C,' or was even aware that this has been a hot button topic in Boston.