There was a moment midway through the third period Saturday when it looked like the Bruins may have been on the verge of letting a very winnable game slip away.
Just 21 seconds after the Sabres cut Boston’s lead to 2-1, Charlie McAvoy went to the box for tripping. Last year, this might have been the kind of sequence that caused the Bruins to unravel.
But Marco Sturm’s Bruins are not playing like last year’s Bruins. They killed off McAvoy’s penalty, because this year’s penalty kill is a perfect 12-for-12 to open the season, not bottom-10 in the league like last year. They held the Sabres to just seven shots in the third period while protecting a lead, because this year’s Bruins are playing with structure that was largely absent last year. And for the second time in three games, they took care of business in an extra-attacker situation, scoring an empty-netter to seal a 3-1 win and improve to 3-0-0 on the season.
Sure, it’s only three games. And the last two opponents, Chicago and Buffalo, aren’t expected to do much this season. But the Bruins weren’t expected to do much, either. Be honest: You’re surprised they’re 3-0-0.
They’re not surprised, though. During training camp, Bruins players weren’t shy about saying they believed they were a better team than outsiders thought they were. They told us they were having a good, physical, hard-working camp. Veterans like Charlie McAvoy and Nikita Zadorov said it was one of the best of their careers.
So far, they’re backing it up. Their confidence is growing. Jordan Harris, the Haverhill native who made his Bruins debut Saturday filling in for a day-to-day Hampus Lindholm, said after the win that he’s seen something even more important than confidence: Total buy-in, right from Day 1.
“I think confidence comes… I think it's building,” Harris said. “I'd say one thing I definitely feel is, like, overall buy-in and everyone playing for each other. And it's great. Honestly, I felt that since the first day of training camp. So that, I think is huge, especially early on in the season.”
It was a term Sturm used in his postgame press conference as well.
“The guys, they buy in. I don’t know what else to say,” Sturm said. “It’s fun to be around those guys, because they care, they buy in, and they want to get better.”
When asked how that buy-in manifests and shows up, Sturm said Saturday was a perfect example.
“You can see it in the game today,” Sturm said. “Everyone is excited to play. Everyone works. We're a family. You know, that's what families do. We support each other. We help each other. And again, that was our message. I think that you guys, we feel it. The crowd, I think they can see it. Does it always end up in a win? No. But it doesn't matter what's going to happen, we want to stick together. And that's our identity. Going back to identity, that's what we want to have, and it's fun playing that way, even if it doesn't work out every night. They all buy in. I just have to repeat myself, because today was just a good example of how we want to play.”
The Bruins want it to start with goaltending and defense. They’ve gotten very good goaltending in all three wins, with Jeremy Swayman on Saturday turning in a second straight stellar outing to open his season. After allowing 36 shots against Washington in the opener, the Bruins have held both Chicago and Buffalo under 25.
They also want to have more of a shot-first mentality themselves. After landing just 22 shots on goal in the opener, they’ve topped 30 in the last two games. They came out flying Saturday, outshooting the Sabres 17-2 in the first period.
They needed both special teams units to be better. The penalty kill is a perfect 12-for-12 so far. The power play went 0-for-4 Saturday, but scored a big goal in each of the first two games. They did at least have eight shots on the man advantage Saturday.
After the first line did all the scoring on opening night, they needed to find some secondary scoring. Well, the first line has actually been a bit quiet the last two games. The second line has scored in both, including Pavel Zacha opening the scoring on Saturday off a nice setup from Harris.
The fourth line scored twice Saturday, with Mark Kastelic scoring what proved to be the game-winner and Sean Kuraly sealing the victory with an empty-net tap-in. Third-liners scored twice in Thursday’s win over the Blackhawks, including Fraser Minten’s overtime winner.
It’s still far too early to make any bold declarations about what the 2025-26 Bruins can ultimately be. They’re about to face some much tougher tests, as four of their next five games are against four of the best teams in the league: the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers.
But so far, they’ve been better than many of us expected, and it might be time to start raising those expectations just a little bit.