By: Jason Cooke | Follow me on X @cookejournalism
The opposing benches at TD Garden on Sunday were a mere mirror image. The Boston Bruins and the Seattle Kraken both entered Causeway Street with records of 5-6-1 and on the second night of a back-to-back. Losers in five of their last six, Seattle is all too familiar with some of the woes that have plagued the Bruins this fall. But, something had to give.
And that was perhaps Boston’s most dominant showing of the season in a 2-0 blanking on home ice that has the B’s winners in two consecutive contests and trending in the right direction after a rocky start to the new slate. Here are three takeaways from the win:
Brazeau stays hot
Justin Brazeau is on a heater. After question marks surrounded his spot in Montgomery’s lineup in 2024-25, the six-foot-five winger has simply stuck to his roots: prove people wrong. Brazeau netted his fourth goal in six games to open the scoring on Sunday, deflecting a shot from the point off the stick of Nikita Zadorov.
“I’ve just been trying to do the same thing,” said Brazeau. “I know if I go to the net I’m doing my job, and sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don’t. You just got to keep sticking with it and keep going with it.”
Brazeau shocked the NHL world last season as a call-up from Providence, skating in 19 regular season games while impressing with five goals and two assists. In the playoffs, he recorded two points in nine games. Brazeau seemingly fits the build for a bottom-six grinder, but he’s proved to be a Swiss Army knife for Jim Montgomery. He skated on the second line Sunday alongside Coyle and Pavel Zacha in what proved to be a successful pairing.
Signature Coyle performance
Charlie Coyle did what Charlie Coyle does best on Sunday. Entering the matchup with just one point to his name this season, it’s safe to say it hasn’t been the start the veteran forward has been striving for. But the Bruins saw what the Weymouth, Mass. native is capable of on Sunday.
“I just think the last two nights, Charlie Coyle has been moving his feet,” said Montgomery. “When he moves his feet, he creates turnovers and he takes pucks to the net. That play on the penalty kill where he ended up on a partial breakaway, he went through two people and it was like he had a (gorilla) on his back. That’s the effort and the kind of persistence that we want in our group.”
Protecting pucks and utilizing his slick hands, the first period was deemed the Coyle show. It all started on Brazeau’s tally, as Coyle showed off his famous puck protection skills to keep the play alive. If there was such thing as a tertiary assist, Coyle would have had himself a two-point night. Instead, Zadorov sent his feed to Charlie McAvoy, whose shot toward Joey Daccord was perfectly tipped by Brazeau.
Then, Coyle broke out the mitts. Collecting a cross-crease pass from Brad Marchand, Coyle hesitated before deking and pulling the puck around a lunging Daccord to double Boston’s lead at 9:57. The patience he displayed on this play to essentially wait out Daccord was quite impressive.
“It was a great look by Marchy,” said Coyle. “Me and Pasta kinda switched, and he’s in the middle so he’s going to bring a lot of guys. I don’t think they were too worried about me.”
Two straight shutouts
Jeremey Swayman was hardly tested on Sunday, but they all count the same. Boston’s win marks their second consecutive shutout after previously besting the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0, on Saturday. It also marked Swayman’s first perfect 60 minutes of the season, making 23 saves on a rather relaxing night between the pipes, until the third period when he was met with a fair share of rubber that kept him on his toes. He stopped all 13 shots that came his way.
“It’s just finding your flow,” Swayman said. “I know what I need to do to stay in the moment and take it one shot at a time, and our guys did a great job of clogging the middle.”
Still, that’s not to say he wasn’t tested, most notably on a desperation stick save on Eeli Tolvanhen in the first period to keep Seattle off the board. Swayman, who signed his eight-year, $66 million contract just before Boston’s first regular season game after a lengthy negotiation, boasted a 3.57 goals against average and a .884 save percentage heading into Sunday’s start.
While not glamorous, those numbers are surely more indicative of the dismal play in front of him rather than his individual performance between the pipes. As Swayman continues to shake off the rust, his numbers will undoubtedly begin to shift toward his 2.53 goals-against average and .916 save percentage that he posted last season. In the playoffs, he was even better, with a 2.15 goals-against average and a whopping .933 save percentage.
Quick hits…
- The Bruins honored legendary NESN play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards throughout Sunday’s game, who recently announced his retirement last spring. Edwards’ favorite sayings throughout his 19-year career with NESN? “tumbling muffins,” “juicy rebounds,” and “Chinese mustard.”
- Trent Frederic dropped the gloves with Adam Larsson in the third period in response to a hit on Matt Poitras below the goal line. Frederic received stick taps from the Bruins bench on his stroll back from the penalty box.
- Charlie McAvoy recorded seven shots and picked up a helper in what Montgomery called “his best game of the year offensively and defensively.”
- Pastrnak was benched in the third period, and Montgomery told the media it was simply a coach’s decision and that he wouldn’t comment further.
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