Marco Sturm didn’t wait around after his club’s rough stretch. He and his staff made the changes, shuffled the forwards, and gave the new setup a chance right away.
The revised look came together like this:
Geekie - Zacha - Pastrnak
Khusnutdivov - Minten - Peterka
Hagens - E. Lindholm - Mittelstadt
Jeannot - Poitras - Kastelic
Kuraly dropped to extra forward.
Boston also altered the blue line, with 23-year-old rookie Frederic Brunet stepping in for Aspirot. In just his third NHL game, Brunet wound up running the top power-play unit against Utah - and he handled it well.
Before the game, Sturm made clear the approach was about getting back to what he wants his team to be.
“We want to move forward, and if we have to make some changes, but as of right now, we’re just going to stay like this and give it a shot,” Sturm said before the game against Utah.
He said the Bruins needed to find their way back to the standard he’s been pushing.
“Going back to our identity, going back to our game,” Sturm explained. “We were not totally involved (versus Ottawa).
I really liked our first three games. That was more like us, so going back to our game, our identity, and play a really good, structured, hard-to-play-against game.”
The response was immediate. In their first home game with the new combinations, the Bruins looked sharper, faster, and far more connected in a 6-1 win over the Utah Mammoth at TD Garden. The puck movement was cleaner, the speed was there, and Boston punished Utah’s mistakes.
Pastrnak drove the offense with two goals and two assists, while 10 other Bruins also got on the scoresheet.
The power play, which had not scored at all this season before the game, suddenly came alive and scored three times with the man advantage. Brunet, the rookie defenseman, was the quarterback on that first unit.
Boston didn’t exactly smother Utah in every zone - the Bruins gave up 37 shots on 80 attempts, with 23 blocks helping out - but Jeremy Swayman made the stops when they were needed and earned his third win of the season.
The next game, a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, looked a lot like the Utah result in the ways that mattered. Boston kept playing fast in all three zones, settled back into Sturm’s defensive-zone structure, and did a better job moving the puck, even if 17 turnovers still left room for improvement.
That night, 11 Bruins picked up points for the second straight game, with the top three lines all contributing. Minten stood out again with one goal and two assists.
“I think it was a good thing for these guys to get uncomfortable (with new line combinations), but overall, we did a good job, and now we have to figure out how we’re going to move forward,” Sturm said after the win over Philadelphia.
Boston then headed out on a four-game trip to San Jose, Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Dallas, carrying a 4-2-0 record and expecting another lift with Charlie McAvoy returning from suspension against the Sharks.
McAvoy’s season debut looked like he had never been away. He scored a goal in Boston’s 6-3 win, put three shots on goal on five attempts, blocked one shot, and delivered four hits while logging a team-high 24:41.
“Incredible,” answered Sturm when asked to describe McAvoy’s performance. “I was actually a little worried because he was so excited (before the game).
It was almost like, ‘I hope he’s not too excited,’ but the way he played, it was unbelievable. Very calm, in control all the time, making plays, always there at the right spot.
We’re just very lucky to have him, and the way he played today was pretty impressive.”
McAvoy said the night felt good from the start.
“It was just fun to be playing again,” McAvoy said. “The first couple of shifts were trying to get a (puck) battle in and stuff like that, so that felt a little weird.
Little things, trying to remember where I am on the ice, but I thought I got better as the game went. It’s just great to be back and be able to help the team.”
His return, along with Minten’s three-point night, pushed Boston into first place in the Atlantic Division at 5-2-0 for 10 points.
“To start the season five and two is great,” said McAvoy. “I’m so proud of the guys.
They had some really great games while I was out, and you’re already itching (to play), but you’re seeing the group have fun and playing the right way, and it makes it even easier to come back and just join the fray because the guys aren’t struggling; they’re feeling good about how they’re playing. It was good to see that continue tonight.”
Over the three games since Sturm and his staff reshaped the lineup and adjusted the defense, the Bruins are 3-0-0 with 17 goals scored and just five allowed. With McAvoy back in the mix, Boston has a strong chance to keep rolling the same way.
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