With just over a week to go before opening night, Monday night served as the Boston Bruins’ unofficial “dress rehearsal,” with coach Marco Sturm rolling out a lineup that featured the vast majority of regulars, plus several key bubble players.
Jeremy Swayman made his preseason debut in net, as did David Pastrnak up front. Facing a more AHL-heavy Philadelphia Flyers lineup, the Bruins piled up a 60-40 advantage in shot attempts, but ultimately lost 3-2 in a shootout. Preseason results don’t really matter, but there was plenty of good and bad in the game that’s worth diving into.
Let’s start with the positives:
-- The defense tightened up. There were some obvious growing pains in the Bruins’ first few preseason games under Sturm, but in their first game with just about a full NHL lineup, the B’s looked like a pretty cohesive defensive unit. They suffocated the Flyers’ transition game in the neutral zone. They had good gaps on Philly zone entries. They backchecked. They won battles down low and killed possessions. Their breakouts were pretty clean. They held the Flyers to just 33 shot attempts in regulation. Again, this was the Flyers’ “B” team, so take it all with a grain of salt, but this was a step in the right direction in terms of team defense, and probably the kind of game the Bruins’ regulars needed to have at least one of to build some confidence.
-- So did the penalty kill. Along the same lines, the Bruins’ penalty kill was also much better Monday after getting shredded a bit on Saturday in Philadelphia. They were more aggressive closing on the puck. They did a better job recognizing and denying passes across the top of the crease that came far too easily for the Flyers on Saturday. They even attacked and killed time with some offensive-zone possession when the opportunity presented itself. And, Swayman made a few really nice saves when called upon. Ultimately, the Bruins finished a perfect 4-for-4 on the PK with six shots allowed.
-- Hampus Lindholm looked really good. We’ve known for a while that Lindholm has been cleared for the start of the year coming off the season-ending fractured kneecap that he suffered last November, but you still wanted to see with your own eyes how he actually looks. That is just a really tough injury for a hockey player. Well, the answer is that he looks pretty damn good. Lindholm seems to have his smooth, powerful skating stride back. He was able to chase guys down defensively and knock them off the puck, and pull away from them when he led the transition. That’s what you want to see. It just can’t be overstated how much of a difference it can make if the Bruins have a healthy and effective Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy anchoring the back end – both in terms of driving transition play as well as handling big minutes and slotting other defensemen into their proper roles.
-- The top line looks ready to go. Pastrnak showed no lingering effects from the knee tendinitis that kept him out of the start of training camp. He had a nice assist on a Sean Kuraly goal right after leaving the penalty box. He also brought some physicality that was good to see, landing four hits, which was tied for third-most on the team. Pastrnak’s linemates, Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie, combined for the tying goal in the third period, with Lindholm stealing the puck at the defensive blue line and then sending Geekie in alone for the finish.
-- The fourth line brought the energy. We mentioned Kuraly’s goal, with the center driving the net and finishing with a nice redirect on Pastrnak’s shot-pass. Linemate Tanner Jeannot tied for the team lead with five hits, and he also blocked two shots. It remains to be seen if Jeannot, the Bruins’ biggest free-agent signing this summer, starts the season on the fourth or third line. The third member of the fourth line on Monday was Alex Steeves, who is fighting for one of the final opening night roster spots. He certainly helped his case against the Flyers, as he threw four hits, had three shot attempts, and forced several turnovers with an active stick and some good compete. The Bruins hope the Bedford, New Hampshire native can chip in some goals if he makes the team after tying for second in the AHL in goals last season, but he can create more opportunity for himself if he can also fit in a grinding-style fourth-line role, which he did Monday. Projected fourth-liners Mark Kastelic and Mikey Eyssimont did not play Monday, so realistically, Steeves is probably going more for the 13th or 14th forward job than a spot in the opening night lineup.
Now, the negatives:
-- The middle six remains very unsettled. The Bruins started Monday night with a second line of Pavel Zacha – Casey Mittelstadt – Viktor Arvidsson and a third line of Matej Blumel – Fraser Minten – Matt Poitras. Those combos did not last the whole game, with Sturm eventually flipping Arvidsson and Poitras in an effort to “get a little bit more life out of those two lines,” as he put it.
It’s just not a great sign that with only two preseason games remaining, the coach is searching for “more life” from his second and third lines, especially because this is the area of the roster that has had the most question marks all summer. The hope was that some more definitive answers would be starting to emerge by now, but that hasn’t really happened.
It’s a group that features a lot of guys who need to either bounce back or prove they’re ready to be full-time NHLers. In the bounce-back group, there’s Zacha, Mittelstadt and Arvidsson. Zacha got some good looks Monday, but missed the net on five of his six shot attempts. Mittelstadt committed three brutal turnovers in overtime and nearly gave the game away. Arvidsson got knocked off the puck too easily more than once.
In the are-they-ready group, there’s Blumel, Minten and Poitras. Blumel has been given a lot of opportunity in the middle six and on the second power-play unit. He has flashed in spurts, including scoring last Tuesday against the Rangers, but has also looked like he’s playing a step too slow at times, including much of Monday’s game. Poitras has zero points in three preseason games and hasn’t popped the way he did the last two preseasons. He also continues to take some really hard hits, including another in open ice Monday night that he was at least able to brace for at the last moment.
Minten probably played the best game of this group Monday, as he threw four hits, made some nice defensive plays to kill possessions, and was a big part of the Bruins’ penalty kill. He also has zero points in three preseason games, though, and is going to need to show more offensively at some point if he’s going to run with the third-line center job. He has five points in 25 career NHL games, and was under half a point per game in the AHL last year (22 points in 45 games, including playoffs).
Sturm said he likes the way all three of Blumel, Poitras and Minten are practicing, but that they seem to be overthinking things in game action.
With just over a week to go before opening night, it feels like Sturm is still waiting for Zacha, Mittelstadt and Arvidsson to show they NEED to be on the second line, and waiting for Blumel, Minten and Poitras to show they NEED to be on the team.
-- Swayman had a couple hiccups. Really, this could have easily been a shutout for him. On the Flyers’ first goal, it was Swayman who turned the puck over behind the net, firing a pass right into a Flyer, which led to a Noah Cates goal a second later. On the second, Rodrigo Abols beat Swayman low blocker from outside the right faceoff dot. Swayman saw the shot clean, but just didn’t make the save.
Swayman also made some really nice saves, including five in overtime, six on the penalty kill, and several of the high-danger variety. An up-and-down performance in his first preseason game is nothing to really worry about, but there were a couple things to clean up. Swayman is expected to get one more preseason start, likely Saturday at home against the Rangers.