On Monday, a reporter asked Boston Bruins president Cam Neely if the team would be happy playing 2-1 games all season given the way the roster is constructed.
“If it’s 2-1 games that we have to play to win, then we’re going to have to do that,” Neely said.
Well, Wednesday night’s season-opener in Washington, D.C. was a 2-1 game until Morgan Geekie scored a late empty-netter to seal a 3-1 Bruins victory over the Capitals and get Marco Sturm his first win as an NHL head coach.
The formula for the Bruins on Wednesday is the one they’re going to have to follow to have success this season: Great goaltending, good special teams, and just enough offense, led by the first line.
Jeremy Swayman stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced, including eight of nine high-danger chances. He saved 3.29 goals above expected, according to MoneyPuck. He calmly dealt with traffic and a couple weird bounces early in the first period as the Bruins found their footing. He came up especially big on the penalty kill, making 11 saves against a dangerous Capitals power play. Simply put, it was a great start to the season for the Bruin who has faced the most scrutiny after the way last year went.
Speaking of the Bruins’ penalty kill, it went 5-for-5. The Bruins will need to cut down on the number of penalties going forward, but this was nonetheless an encouraging start for a unit that needs to be a lot better after finishing bottom-10 in the NHL a season ago.
Same goes for the power play, which was fourth-worst last year. It looked much better Wednesday, going 1-for-2. Both the first and second power-play units threatened on Boston’s first man advantage, but didn’t score. When they got another chance less than a minute after Washington tied the game in the third period, the top unit capitalized. Pavel Zacha hit David Pastrnak with a nice stretch pass, and then Pastrnak made a great pass to set up Elias Lindholm. Score one for new power-play coach Steve Spott.
Pastrnak was excellent all night. He opened the scoring midway through the second, outworking John Carlson on the boards, moving the puck to Nikita Zadorov, and then getting it back before beating Logan Thompson with a wrister through traffic. Then he set up Lindholm for what proved to be the winning goal. Then he sprung Geekie for the empty-netter to seal it. Three-point night to start the season, picking up right where left off. Two-point nights for each of his linemates in Lindholm and Geekie. (By the way, the “Kevin” reference below is in response to a Fanatics post that somehow identified him as “Kevin Pastrnak.)
It wasn’t a perfect game by any means. The Bruins did take too many penalties. They got badly outplayed for much of the second period, getting outshot 17-6 in the frame. They are going to need someone other than the first line to score if they’re going to keep winning.
But they did enough. Swayman playing like this, Pastrnak and his line continuing to dominate, and special teams being vastly improved would be a nice foundation to build on.
There were some encouraging signs elsewhere, too. Charlie McAvoy had a game-high seven hits and was a physical presence all night in his first game since February. Viktor Arvidsson had some jump on the second line. The third and fourth lines gave the Bruins some good offensive-zone cycle shifts. Mason Lohrei, oft-criticized for his defense last year, took three big hits from Tom Wilson, and successfully moved the puck up ice to start the breakout on all three. The third of those plays helped set up Pastrnak’s opening goal.
The Bruins won’t get to celebrate for long. They’re right back at it Thursday night, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks in their home opener at TD Garden.