The Bruins didn't exactly have the most challenging start to the season. Prior to Saturday, they had played just three games in 10 days. Their three opponents – the Blackhawks, Predators and Sharks – weren't exactly the cream of the crop. The Blackhawks and Predators have talent at the top of their lineups, but lack depth. The Sharks might be on their way to the No. 1 pick next summer.
So, while starting 3-0-0 is always good, it was understandable if some wanted to see the Bruins face a tougher opponent before getting too excited. Enter Saturday night's game in Los Angeles against the Kings, a legitimately good team that made the playoffs last year and got better over the summer with a blockbuster trade for Pierre-Luc Dubois.
This was unquestionably the Bruins' toughest test yet, and it was one that got even tougher when news broke that coach Jim Montgomery was scratching Jake DeBrusk after the winger was late for a team meeting.
So, how did the Bruins do? They passed convincingly, beating the Kings 4-2 in a game that pretty much stuck to the blueprint Boston wants to follow this season.
Jeremy Swayman was great in net. David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand led the way offensively. Others stepped up to provide some depth scoring. Their special teams were stellar once again. That is pretty much how it's looked throughout this season-opening four-game winning streak for the Bruins, and that's how it might look quite a bit this season.
With so much turnover up front and with the Jennings Trophy-winning tandem of Swayman and Linus Ullmark returning, everyone knew that any success the Bruins were going to have this season would have to start from the net out. Well, they're both 2-0 to start the season and the Bruins have an NHL-best .949 save percentage. After stopping 32 of 34 shots Saturday, Swayman stands at .942. Ullmark is at .958, second in the league among goalies who have made at least two starts.
As important as Swayman and Ullmark are at one end, Pastrnak and Marchand are just as important as the stars at the other. And that's exactly what they've been so far this season: stars. The first goal of the game: Marchand to Pastrnak on the power play. The Bruins' third goal: Pastrnak to Marchand off an offensive-zone faceoff win by Pavel Zacha. The fourth: Pastrnak to Marchand during an o-zone cycle late in the third to seal the win.
Pastrnak now has five goals and two assists in four games. Marchand has three goals and three assists. They've done it on separate lines. On Saturday, they did it together after Montgomery decided to load up his top line around the midway point of the game. Zacha complemented them well as the pivot and finally notched his first point of the season – a point total that in no way reflects his strong play this season.
With Marchand moving up to the top line, the other new line that Montgomery put together midgame was Matt Poitras between Milan Lucic and Morgan Geekie. Poitras and Geekie had started the game with Marchand on their left, while Lucic had gotten a (brief) promotion to the top line with DeBrusk out.
Montgomery's magic touch paid off here, too. On one of their first shifts together, they gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead. Poitras showed off his poise with some good offensive-zone puck protection. Lucic posted up in front of the net and battled for position the whole shift. And Geekie also went to the net on a Derek Forbort shot from the point, getting into perfect position to bury a loose puck after it caromed off Lucic's skate for his first goal as a Bruin.
One negative for the Bruins on Saturday was that they continued to take too many penalties, handing the Kings six power plays. Fortunately for Boston, the penalty kill continued to be excellent. It killed off the Kings' first five man advantages to improve to 18-for-18 on the season. Los Angeles finally broke through with 1:11 left in the game when the Bruins were up 4-1 and the game was pretty much over. On the power play, the Bruins finished the night 1-for-4 and are now 3-for-10 over their last three games.
If you wanted to look for other negatives, you could maybe say that the Bruins got a little too conservative while protecting a two-goal lead in the third, landing just four shots on goal in the period. But they also held the Kings, playing desperate, to seven. Their defensive structure was superb and it never felt like an L.A. team that was second in the NHL in scoring coming in was particularly close to mounting a comeback.
"I really liked it," Montgomery said of his team's performance during his NESN postgame interview. "We played with a lot of emotion and we dug in. Everybody dug in in a lot of different ways, whether it was physicality, whether it was skill, effort or execution. I liked the way we dug in. We're starting to see our identity starting to come out."
The Bruins are now 4-0-0 for the first time since 1990-91. They're one of three unbeaten teams left this season. The next challenge: their first back-to-back of the year, as they're right back at it Sunday night in Anaheim.
