By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
Well, that was ugly. Even 48 hours removed from the Florida Panthers’ 6-4 rout over the Boston Bruins, their season-opening defeat doesn’t look much better. Joonas Korpisalo allowed six goals on 35 shots. The Bruins compiled 17 giveaways and lacked consistent coverage in the defensive zone, allowing a whopping 17 shots on their goaltender in the first period alone.
If that performance looked familiar, that’s because it most certainly was. Last May, the Panthers out-skated, out-toughed, and out-played the Bruins in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The woes that plagued the Bruins last spring were evident in Tuesday’s contest.
But a clean slate presents itself on Thursday when the Montreal Canadiens hit Causeway Street for Boston’s home opener at TD Garden, where the B’s kick off a three-game homestand. Here are some thoughts ahead of the 7 p.m. puck drop:
Scouting Montreal
The Canadiens shocked the hockey world on Wednesday, blanking the Toronto Maple Leafs, 1-0. Sam Montembeault stole the show, posting a 48-save shutout to silence Toronto’s top guns Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
Montreal’s young phenom Cole Caufield potted the lone tally of the night, a power-play goal in the first period. Caufield will be a player to watch on Garden ice on Thursday. The 23-year-old is coming off a breakout season in 2023-24 that saw him total 28-37-65 and is beginning to show the promise that the 2019 first-round pick was expected to bring to the National Hockey League.
2022 first-overall selection Juraj Slafkovsky and former Boston University Terrier Lane Hutson will be two more players to watch. But if there’s good news for the Bruins, it’s that Montembeault may need a well-deserved night off after his masterful performance less than 24 hours before game time in Boston.
Bruins look to start on time
The Bruins were sluggish in Tuesday’s first period, and Jim Montgomery didn’t have an answer for it. The Bruins allowed four goals in the 20 minutes while being outshot, 17-12. At one point, the Panthers held a 2-0 lead and a 12-1 advantage in shots on goal. It was déjà vu for the Bruins.
“Their execution was really good, our execution was really poor,” said Montgomery. “I can’t pinpoint why we looked slow, but we looked slow the entire game—not just the first ten minutes in my opinion.”
Milestone watch
A pair of Bruins are on the verge of history on Thursday night. Brad Marchand requires just one goal to tie legend Rick Middleton for the fourth-most in Bruins history. In 1,030 career NHL games, Marchand has compiled 401-528-929. Marchand is just 26 goals from tying his longtime teammate Patrice Bergeron on the list, who currently holds the third-most tallies in team history behind Phil Esposito (459) and Johnny Bucyk (545).
On the other hand, Pavel Zacha is four points away from 300. Zacha is already off to a fast start in his 10th NHL season, recording a goal in Boston’s season-opening loss. The 27-year-old had a career year with the Bruins in 2023-24, reaching a career-best 59 points in 78 games. While it would require quite the offensive performance to hit 300 points on Thursday, crazier things have happened.
Projected line rushes
Thursday morning line combinations looked like this:
Zacha-Lindholm-Pastrnak
Marchand-Coyle-Geekie
Tufte-Frederic-Brazeau
Beecher-Kastelic-Koepke
Jones-Poitras-Johnson
Zadorov-McAvoy
Lindholm-Carlo
Wotherspoon-Peeke
Lohrei-Mitchell
A few quick observations: It looks like Mason Lohrei will draw out on Thursday, replaced by Parker Wotherspoon, who will make his season debut. The 6-foot-5 Lohrei was a -3 against Florida in 16:16 of ice time. Wotherspoon was a surprise for the Bruins last season, proving himself as a simple yet reliable puck-moving defenseman.
Another significant change is Nikita Zadorov bumping up with Charlie McAvoy, an expected pairing throughout the entirety of training camp. Zadorov skated with Andrew Peeke on opening night, logging 18:02 and four penalty minutes. His physical two-way game could gel well with McAvoy’s skating and puck-moving ability.
Up front, Riley Tufte may slot in for Max Jones. Tufte, a monster at 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, will add some heft to the Bruins’ lineup. The 2016 first-round pick has never played more than 10 NHL games in a season and was signed by Boston as a free agent in July. It is important to note that these changes are purely speculative based on line rushes at morning skate.
Prediction: Bruins 4, Canadiens 1
What better way to ring in the new season at home than a win against your longtime rival? I’d expect a heavy pushback from the Bruins following their letdown in Florida. The last time the Bruins fell to the Canadiens was November 11, 2023.
Could you include puck drop or time of game? Some of us don’t live in New England so that would be really helpful!
I went through the whole article hoping for game time and that information isn’t in there!