The Bruins have spent the first 10 games of 2026-27 looking like a team with some real staying power. They closed out a 3-0-1 road trip Tuesday night with an overtime loss to the Stars, but the bigger picture still looks strong: Boston is 7-2-1, sitting first in the Atlantic Division and second in the Eastern Conference.
The numbers back up the start. Boston ranks seventh in goals per game and fourth in goals allowed per game, and the new faces plus the young core have made an immediate mark.
The schedule has been on the friendlier side, but the Bruins haven’t wasted the opportunity. They’ve scored four or more goals in six of their 10 games and have spent nearly 238 minutes in the lead, ninth-best in the league.
One of the biggest reasons for the fast start has been the young players. The Bruins have clearly leaned into giving their kids real run, and so far that gamble has paid off. Six of the team’s top 11 scorers are 25 or younger, and 19 of Boston’s 35 goals have come from players in that age group.
Fraser Minten and Matthew Poitras are tied with David Pastrnak for the team lead with four goals apiece. Minten’s eight points have him tied for second on the team, and he’s on pace to blow past the 35-point career high he set last season.
James Hagens has six points in 10 games? Not quite - he has seven points, with three goals and four assists, and no rookie in the league has more.
Hagens and Poitras both scored in the overtime loss to Dallas.
There’s been useful work on the blue line, too. Frederic Brunet has been steady and dependable, and he ranks fourth among rookies in blocked shots. Mason Lohrei has chipped in offensively with five points, the most among Bruins defensemen.
Goaltending has been just as sharp. Jeremy Swayman, a Vezina Trophy finalist last season, is tracking toward another top-tier year. His .928 save percentage ranks second in the league, his 7.7 goals saved above expected is tied for third, and his 1.28 wins above replacement ranks fourth among goalies, per MoneyPuck.
Michael DiPietro has only appeared in two games as the backup, but he has done his part. He owns a .912 save percentage, has positive goals saved above expected, and picked up his first career NHL win with 26 saves against the Ducks last week. As a team, the Bruins have allowed 7.13 fewer goals than expected, the best mark in the league.
That kind of workload is fine for Swayman as long as he keeps playing at this level, but Boston will eventually need more from DiPietro. Keeping Swayman fresh matters, especially with the grind of the playoff chase and whatever comes after.
Elias Lindholm has also looked more like the player Boston hoped it was getting when it signed him to a seven-year, $54.25 million deal in 2024 free agency. He has seven points in 10 games, including a primary assist on David Pastrnak’s tying goal against the Ducks and the game-winner five minutes later.
Lindholm has been busy at the dot, taking the fourth-most faceoffs in the league with 190, and he’s won 58.9 percent of them. He’s also given the Bruins defensive reliability and has fit well with Hagens on the third line. He may not turn into a classic top-six center for Boston, but he looks capable of being a strong No. 3 center who helps in all situations.
Not everything has clicked. The power play has been uneven, even if the raw success rate doesn’t look disastrous at 21.1 percent.
The problem is how concentrated the scoring has been. All six of Boston’s power-play goals came in just two games, with three against Utah on Oct. 8 and three against the Ducks on Oct.
- In the other eight games, the Bruins have gone scoreless with the man advantage.
The chances haven’t exactly been flowing, either. Boston ranks 23rd in total power-play opportunities and 30th in power-play ice time per game. Over the last two games, the Bruins have managed only two shots in their last six minutes on the power play.
That’s an area that has to clean itself up. The Bruins had the ninth-best power play last season, and this group should be better than what it has shown so far.
The bigger offensive story has been balance. Boston has spread the production around in a way it simply hasn’t in recent years.
Six players have at least three goals, 10 players have at least two, and 11 have five or more points. The defense has joined the attack, too, with six goals from the blue line already.
That depth has helped Boston rank seventh in the league in goals per game. But for this team to reach its ceiling, the veterans at the top need to give more.
David Pastrnak has four goals, three of them on the power play, and the Bruins need more from him at 5-on-5. Morgan Geekie has only one goal, also on the power play, and he’s taken just 10 shots in 10 games, with only one game featuring multiple shots. For a player with his shot, that kind of passivity doesn’t cut it.
Boston has survived that quiet stretch from Pastrnak and Geekie because the younger players have stepped up and produced more than expected. Still, if the Bruins want to keep pushing this hot start into something bigger, they’ll need the top of the lineup to drive the offense, not just keep pace with it.
In Other News...
Bruins Waste Big Opportunity In Loss That Leaves One Clear Concern
The Bruins left Dallas with a point but not the result they wanted, falling 3-2 in overtime at American Airlines Center in a game that felt like a missed chance for a team sitting atop the Atlantic Division and tied for first in the Eastern Conference. Boston had enough strong stretches to make the trip feel winnable, with Jeremy Swayman, Matthew Poitras and Nikita Zadorov among the players who helped keep the game on track.
Still, the details of how the loss unfolded will linger. Boston could not cash in on a key advantage when it needed to separate itself, and by the time overtime arrived, the margin for error had already disappeared. Against a Dallas team led by Mikko Rantanens big night, the Bruins were left with a reminder that even a solid overall performance can turn into an expensive lesson when one area of the game goes missing at the wrong time. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Gave Fans One More Reason To Watch Khusnutdinov Closely
The Bruins wrapped up a four-game road trip at 3-0-1, a solid stretch that still ended with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Stars in Dallas. Boston had enough going in the right direction to leave the trip with positives, even if Mikko Rantanens hat trick ultimately swung the night for the home team.
Amid that backdrop, theres a reason to keep a closer eye on Marat Khusnutdinov, who has become part of the conversation around Bostons roster beyond just the immediate results on the ice. The Bruins are also being linked to a possible move involving Dylan Larkins trade landscape, while a few other familiar names around the league have recently found themselves back where they started, adding to a busy stretch of NHL storylines. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Suddenly Have A Real Chance In A Surprising Trade Watch
A quiet contract standoff in Detroit has suddenly put the Bruins in the middle of an interesting trade watch. Simon Edvinsson and his agent recently met with interim GM Shawn Horcoff as the Red Wings continue to work toward an extension, and Boston is among the teams keeping tabs on the situation as the 6-foot-6 defensemans future hangs in the balance.
Edvinsson has not formally asked out, but the longer talks drag on, the more likely a move starts to look if no deal comes together. Detroit still says it wants to keep him, yet there is clearly enough outside interest to make this one worth monitoring, with the Bruins one of the clubs that could benefit if the Red Wings decide to revisit the market. [Read more 🡒]