By: Jack Studley | Follow me on Twitter/X @jackstudley13
The Bruins continue their preseason action on Monday with yet another game against the Philadelphia Flyers. After winning at the newly named Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Saturday, both teams will face off in Boston on Monday for a second preseason contest. This is the Bruins’ fourth of six preseason games and the second one on home ice. The game will start at 7:00 PM EST and be televised on NESN.
When the Bruins return home, as is frequently the case with any team throughout the NHL preseason, the lineup tends to look stronger and more like the one we will see when the regular season opens. An example of this happened on Saturday in Philadelphia; the Flyers’ roster looked more like an NHL team than the Bruins, who opted to send six forwards from Friday’s Group B roster. On Saturday, the Bruins rolled out a first line of Riley Tufte, Pavel Zacha, and Mikey Eyssimont.
On Sunday morning, the Bruins announced that the team assigned ten players to Providence ahead of P-Bruins training camp. One of the players, Simon Zajicek, played in the preseason this year, but with the first wave of cuts done, the team looks ahead to this week. Three preseason games and a week of camp are ahead. After Monday night, the Bruins travel down to Washington on Thursday, and they will host the Rangers in the preseason finale on Saturday afternoon.
Considering Sunday’s training camp, Monday’s game, and who has yet to play in the preseason, the Bruins should be able to put out a competitive roster for Monday night. David Pastrnak, who returned to practice this week, has yet to play in a preseason game this year. Towards the end of the season, the Bruins’ first line of Pastrnak, Elias Lindholm, and Morgan Geekie started to connect and build chemistry amongst themselves, giving the Bruins’ fans a glimpse into what could come this year. The line has been skating together since Pastrnak joined the group at camp. With a new head coach at the helm, giving the first line a preseason game to get back into game speed would be beneficial.
If the Bruins opt for an NHL-heavy roster tomorrow, Viktor Arvidsson can slide back into the lineup. The Swedish winger played in the Bruins’ first preseason game, where he logged three shots playing alongside Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie. If the Bruins opt for a strong lineup tomorrow, Arvidsson could see time on the second line, where he skated today alongside Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt. If that line plays well with each other, we could see a younger player slide into the third-line center spot – that is a spot that has not been filled yet.
Another newcomer, Tanner Jeannot, had two shots and five hits during his first preseason game in the black and gold. He served as a great option on a line with Fabian Lysell and Fraser Minten, displaying his speed and physicality on a line with two younger players.
Marco Sturm has not shied away from rolling out defensive pairs that we will likely see throughout the season. Charlie McAvoy and Mason Lohrei played together in the first preseason game, and Nikita Zadorov was paired with Henri Jokiharju for the game against the Rangers. The only pair we have not seen in a preseason game is Hampus Lindholm and Andrew Peeke. They have been paired together at camp. We saw Lindholm play on Saturday in Philadelphia, and he looked extremely comfortable on the ice during his first game since November.
The Bruins have given Jonathan Aspirot and Frederic Brunet an extended look, and Jordan Harris and Victor Soderstrom are still competing for the seventh defenseman spot. The extended look has allowed Marco Sturm to look at who the Bruins have down the depth chart and mix and match defensive pairs ahead of his first season as the leader of an NHL bench. Brunet and Harris were skating with Group A during Sunday’s camp; Soderstrom and Aspirot were with Group B.
Jeremy Swayman has also not played in a preseason game this year. His last preseason appearance came in October 2023. It is a matter of time before the Bruins get Swayman active, and tomorrow is a great time to do it. If not tomorrow, we will see Swayman in the late preseason games, especially considering how last year went after there was no training camp or preseason for him. With the announcement of Luke Cavallin and Simon Zajicek’s assignment to Providence, the number of goalies at the NHL camp has been reduced to three: Swayman, Joonas Korpisalo, and Michael DiPietro.
DiPietro is competing for a spot in the Bruins’ goaltending room and challenging goaltender Joonas Korpisalo for his place on the Boston Bruins roster. DiPietro played the whole game on Saturday, stopping 24 of 27 shots. Korpisalo stopped 34 in a 5-4 overtime win against the Rangers last Monday. Although Swayman has not played yet, the Bruins have allowed themselves ample time to see the three goaltenders still in camp, with three preseason games to go.
Whether Marco Sturm and the Bruins coaching staff opt to skate a competitive lineup remains to be seen. Monday’s home game against Philadelphia is an opportunity to get some guys on the NHL roster into game shape and up to speed. Marco Sturm has used this preseason to get a read on his new team and identify points to work on, but with Philadelphia on the schedule again, he could start to see how the line combinations hold up in a game situation.
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