The Boston Bruins keep stacking wins, piling up goals, and making the early part of this season look a lot more interesting than anyone expected. Sitting second in the NHL behind Carolina, they’ve already banked seven of eight possible points on the road, come home and handled Nashville, and then found another gear in the third period against San Jose.
There’s still a healthy dose of skepticism here. This kind of start doesn’t automatically mean it all holds up. But through the opening stretch, Boston has been fun to watch because the production is coming from all over the lineup, not just the usual suspects.
This week gave the Bruins a little bit of everything. In Dallas, they took a 3-2 overtime loss that brought back some familiar offensive and special-teams headaches, even though Jeremy Swayman was excellent again.
Against Nashville, they delivered a dominant homecoming, powered by Michael DiPietro’s emotional shutout on Hockey Fights Cancer Night and four-point nights from Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrňák. Then against San Jose, Boston battled through a chippy, uneven game before blowing it open with four third-period goals, including a milestone goal from Pastrňák.
The biggest shift from recent seasons is easy to see: the Bruins are not leaning on just a few players to carry the scoring load. They’ve got 17 different goal scorers already, and that balance is becoming one of their real strengths.
James Hagens has been one of the most encouraging developments. He’s up to nine points, and the scoring is only part of what’s standing out.
He’s battling around the net, blocking shots, and doing the sort of dirty work that gets noticed fast. That’s why he’s already starting to pop up in early Calder Trophy conversations.
Elias Lindholm may also be settling into the right lane. Playing with Hagens and Casey Mittelstadt, he’s winning about 60% of his faceoffs and helping that line hum. Mittelstadt, meanwhile, hit 100 career NHL goals, another nice marker in a season where Boston is getting contributions across the board.
McAvoy has been central to all of this. Since returning from suspension, he’s looked like he never left. His four-assist game against Nashville was just the latest reminder of how important he is to this team.
Marat Khusnutdinov has also kept making himself useful, earning a three-year contract extension while continuing to bring energy as one of Boston’s young contributors. Matt Poitras is finding his place too, skating in a productive role alongside Marc Kastelic and Tanner Jeannot.
There are still a few things that are hard to ignore, though. The first power-play unit has looked slow, predictable, and too easy to disrupt.
It’s not just failing to finish - it’s also giving up shorthanded chances. The younger second unit has moved the puck better, and the deployment should probably reflect that.
David Pastrňák’s season has had its peaks, but not the cleanest consistency. He can pile up milestones and multi-point games, then disappear for stretches, and his zero shots against Dallas was part of that frustration. He did, however, tie Patrice Bergeron for third in Bruins franchise history with 427 career goals.
And then there’s the overtime question. Marco Sturm leaned on veterans against Dallas, which left the kids on the bench when the game was there to be won. If young players have been helping drive the team, the logic says they should be trusted in those moments too.
Boston’s upcoming stretch brings Carolina and St. Louis on a short road trip before a Halloween date with Chicago at home.
Carolina is the toughest assignment, especially in its own building. St.
Louis brings a reunion with former Bruins coach Jim Montgomery and defenseman Brandon Carlo. Chicago gives the Bruins a look at Connor Bedard.
After that, November’s lighter schedule should finally give this team something it didn’t have much of last season: real practice time.
In Other News...
Bruins Top-Six Problems Are Putting Pastrnak At A Real Crossroads
Bostons latest look at its top six only sharpened the concern around David Pastrnaks current fit. Against Carolina, the line with JJ Peterka and Pavel Zacha never found any rhythm, and the underlying numbers were as bleak as the eye test suggested. The group spent too much time defending, too little time threatening, and for a team already searching for answers up front, that is the sort of combination that can force a coach to start shuffling pieces again.
One path back to stability is sitting right there in the recent history of the lineup, where Pastrnak had more traction alongside Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten. The Bruins also have Morgan Geekie in the mix as another forward whose own struggles add to the pressure on the top-six configuration. With the offense still trying to find a cleaner structure, the question is whether Boston decides to keep pushing this version of Pastrnaks line or goes back to a combination that already showed it can work. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Let A Winnable Road Game Slip Away After Early Lead
The Bruins had enough early to feel like they could take something out of Raleigh, with Pavel Zacha giving them the only goal they would need to lean on if the rest of the night broke their way. Jeremy Swayman did his part with 28 saves, and for long stretches Boston had the look of a team capable of grinding out a road result before the game tightened and the margin for error disappeared.
Instead, a one-goal cushion turned into a one-goal loss, 2-1, and Bostons point streak came to an end in a game that had been there for the taking. The Bruins now get a day off to reset before turning to the St. Louis Blues, with the lingering concern being how quickly a solid start can unravel when a road game stays this close for too long. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Face A Pavel Zacha Dilemma They Can't Ignore
Pavel Zachas next contract has become one of those quiet Bruins storylines that could wind up mattering a great deal. Chris Johnston reported that Boston and Zacha do not see the financial picture the same way, which puts the organization in a familiar spot: valuing a useful top-six forward while trying to keep its books pointed in the right direction.
For the Bruins, the tension is less about what Zacha has become than what they are willing to pay to keep him in that role. Johnstons reporting suggests the club has its own line in mind, and the gap with the players side is enough to make this more than routine negotiation. If Boston wants to avoid letting a stable piece of its forward group become a bigger offseason question, this is the kind of discussion that will need clarity sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]