BOSTON - The Bruins have given themselves a clean runway, and they’ve taken off fast.
After opening the season with two wins in a stretch that’s about to tilt heavily in their favor, Boston is staring at a month that could separate it from the pack. The club will play 12 of its next 14 games at TD Garden, and it will barely leave Massachusetts until the middle of December.
That run starts with momentum already in hand. The Bruins beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in a shootout Monday night at TD Garden to move atop the Atlantic Division by three points. They’ve also started the year 7-1-0 on Causeway Street, which gives this homestand a chance to become a real statement stretch.
“It’s huge. I don’t know if I’ve ever played as much at home as we are this month,” said Morgan Geekie. “Obviously it’s nice and you get to play in front of your fans every day, which is huge for us.
“But I think when you look at it at the start of the year you really take pride in home ice. For sure as a group that’s something we’ve done over the last few years so it’s a huge bump for us, for sure.
I think it’s good to start this off on the right foot, but it’s a long month and we’ve got some good teams coming in here. So we just need to try to take points when we can get them, clean up anything that we need to and then just go from there.”
There’s plenty packed into the schedule, too. The Bruins are set to debut their “Varsity Sweater” brown third jerseys during the homestand, with the Nov. 12 matchup against the Montreal Canadiens serving as the first look. The stretch also ends with Patrice Bergeron’s jersey retirement ceremony at the beginning of December.
The uniform choice has already drawn attention. It’s the first all-brown Bruins jersey in more than 100 years, and it comes with a gold bucket.
Joe Haggerty wrote on social media: “How do we feel about the Bruins Remix jerseys, which they are calling the “Varsity Sweater”? It’s the first all brown look for a Bruins jersey in over 100 years and also features a gold bucket.
Not my all-time favorite but better than last year’s yellow outdoor game jerseys IMHO”
On the ice, Boston has looked like a team that knows exactly how it wants to play when it’s rested and organized. Against Vegas, the Bruins stayed out of their own way, got goals from Morgan Geekie, James Hagens and David Pastrnak, and leaned on Jeremy Swayman, who has been elite in net all season.
That formula is tough to crack, even against a talented opponent like the Golden Knights, especially when Boston is also getting the kind of puck management and defensive detail it wants. Will Borgen, who leads the Bruins with a plus-16 rating, said the team has already focused on tightening things up.
“We had to clean up some things in the neutral zone and the D-zone after a few games where we hadn’t been as clean,” said Will Borgen, who leads the B’s with a plus-16 rating this season. “It’s always important to be as good at home. You get an advantage playing in front of your fans, so we’ve just got to keep it going.”
There’s still a caveat hanging over the start. Critics can point to Boston’s record against playoff teams, and they’d have a case. The Bruins are 2-4-1 against teams within the playoff structure as of Tuesday morning, with a minus-3 goal differential in those games, 15-18.
But that hasn’t stopped them from banking points, and that may be the bigger story right now. If they keep handling business at home the way they have through the first five weeks, the Bruins can make this next month matter long before the calendar turns. The homestand brings plenty of chances to sharpen the résumé, with the Panthers, Wild, Capitals, Canadiens, Avalanche and Maple Leafs all coming through TD Garden.
In Other News...
James Hagens Is Giving Bruins Fans A Reason To Believe
James Hagens gave Bruins fans an early jolt in a tense night against Vegas, opening the scoring in Bostons 3-2 win that needed overtime and a shootout to be settled. The result pushed the Bruins to 11-4-1 and offered another reminder that the rookie can already tilt a game in a meaningful moment, especially in a matchup that stayed tight from start to finish.
Boston still had to survive plenty after that fast start, with the Golden Knights pushing the game beyond regulation and forcing the Bruins into a skills competition. Jeremy Swayman handled everything Vegas threw at him in the shootout, and David Pastrnak delivered the finishing touch, but Hagens goal was the kind of spark that made the night feel like more than just another two points. [Read more 🡒]
Marco Sturm Turned A Bruins Win Into A Charlie McAvoy Debate
The Bruins left Vegas with a shootout win, but the postgame conversation quickly shifted away from the result and toward Charlie McAvoys night. Bostons top defenseman was whistled for a pair of minor penalties, and one of them opened the door for Golden Knights captain Mark Stone to cash in on the power play, a sequence that made the Bruins discipline a central issue even in victory.
Marco Sturm didnt let the win soften his view of McAvoys decisions, using his postgame comments to zero in on the defensemans emotional control. For a Bruins team still trying to build cleaner habits, the coachs critique turned a good result into a reminder that the margin for error shrinks fast when one of your most important players starts spending too much time in the box. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Fans Are Starting To Push Back On Marco Sturms Hagens Plan
James Hagens has given the Bruins plenty to like in the opening stretch of his rookie season, and that has naturally led to a bigger conversation about how quickly his role should grow. The young forward has looked comfortable enough to make fans and some observers wonder why he is not being leaned on more when games tighten up, especially with Boston looking for reliable options it can trust in key moments.
Marco Sturm, though, has been measured about that next step. He has pointed to the need to build Hagens up gradually and has been wary of handing him more late-game responsibility too soon, a stance that is starting to draw pushback from a fan base eager to see the rookie rewarded for his strong start. The debate now is less about whether Hagens belongs and more about how much the Bruins are willing to ask of him right away. [Read more 🡒]