Without arguably their two best players for the first two months of the season was not an ideal scenario for the Boston Bruins. Add a new head coach in Jim Montgomery with some tweaks to the Bruins’ defensive system, and the hope was to tread water until Thanksgiving and try to stay in the playoff hunt. After six games, Boston is exceeding expectations and getting contributions from many different players. Excluding one hiccup in Ottawa, the Bruins are proving to be a force to be reckoned with this season. Boston is 5-1, and optimism around the team is at a high.
Although the Bruins have won five of their first six, the schedule was fairly favorable to Montgomery’s club. The first six opponents for Boston are now a combined 13-17-3 in the early going. The Bruins handed Florida their only loss of the year but have beaten Arizona and Anaheim, who will prove to be bottom dwellers all season. There are several reasons to feel good about the Bruins, but the upcoming schedule is a true test.
Starting with Tuesday’s home meeting with the 4-0-1 Dallas Stars, the Bruins’ schedule gets significantly more challenging. The Bruins face the Detroit Red Wings (3-0-2) on Thursday night before going on the road for four games. Three of those games are against the elite in the Eastern Conference as Boston travels to Pittsburgh, New York, and a battle with Toronto. The other team, Columbus, has newly acquired Johnny Gaudreau.
Upon returning to TD Garden, the Bruins will face two high-quality Western Conference opponents, Calgary (4-1-0) and St. Louis (3-0-0). That is eight difficult games in a row that will test the depth of the Bruins without two main pieces. The beginning of the season saw a better start than many expected, but this stretch of games will determine how well the Bruins have survived without McAvoy and Marchand.
The Bruins will need solid goaltending in the coming weeks. Linus Ullmark is 4-0-0 and has taken over the number goalie role from Jeremy Swayman. Ullmark has posted a 2.23 goals against average and a .929 save percentage and will be looked upon to carry most of the load in net.
Boston has played better 5-on-5 lately and will be tested at even strength against some of the better teams in the league. The power play will need to improve for Boston to succeed in these next eight games. The Bruins are 18.2% on the man advantage, which is 19th in the NHL. The penalty kill has been very good at about 91 percent, good for seventh in the league.
Defensively, the Bruins will have to continue to get good play on the back end. Hampus Lindholm has been a rock along the blue line as the team’s top defenseman. Matt Grzelcyk has returned from off-season surgery to stabilize the defense corps. Boston is hopeful to have injured right-side defenseman Brandon Carlo return soon from an upper-body injury. Carlo was a full participant at practice on Monday.
The Boston Bruins are off to a great start in 2022-23 and are currently in first place in the Atlantic Division. The goal is to continue their solid play against a demanding schedule entering November as they get closer to welcoming back Charlie McAvoy and Brad Marchand. When that happens, the Bruins should be contenders throughout the season and a dangerous opponent in the postseason.
