What the Boston Bruins have managed to accomplish, a perfect 9-0-1 record, in the early portion of their season is wildly impressive. Not to toss water on the fire, but up until Thursday night, there hadn’t been a proverbial bad blood game, a true grudge match against a heated rival which tests their mettle.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, who have had a fair share of spirited run-ins with the Bruins, skated onto TD Garden ice with a simple goal in mind. To remind the rest of the league, they are indeed the top dog in the Eastern Conference. A thrilling back-and-forth 2-2 regulation draw was eventually decided in a shootout. Both Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle scored, and Jeremy Swayman shut the door on the other end, claiming the bonus point for Boston. Undeniably the most entertaining game of the young season.
Statistically, the scoreboard reads 3-2 but that’s only providing base-level insight.
Luckily for the reader, I’ve painstakingly combed through Twitter, or is it X? Whatever you want to call it, to unearth some fascinating tidbits which help to add layers to an already fascinating game.
Mason Lohrei makes his NHL regular-season debut
The term “non-traditional hockey market” has gotten a tad stale, don’t you think? Not downplaying the importance of implementing teams down south across various leagues. But enough data is present which showcases how passionate said fans can be, and the impact that has on the growth of the game. Take Mason Lohrei, for example; on Thursday night he became the first Louisiana-born player to ever suit up for an NHL contest both regular and postseason. All because his father coached the ECHL’s Baton Rouge Kingfish.
A momentous occasion, for sure, but Lohrei made the most of his opportunity with the big club. Paired with Brandon Carlo and facing an offensive juggernaut in Toronto Lohrei began only 37.5% of his faceoffs in the offensive zone during his 17:34 of 5-on-5 ice time, according to Conor Ryan of Boston.com. Despite that fact, Boston held an edge in shots on goal 11-6, scoring chances 10-5, and high danger scoring chances 6-0 over his competition. Oh yeah, he also recorded an assist on Boston’s opening goal.
Needless to say, his performance turned heads, especially his coach for the last seven contests with AHL’s Providence Bruins Ryan Mougenel. Who told Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery Thursday night he played better than any game in the AHL.
Noted power forward David Pastrnak
We all recall the “Bear Tracks” video released by the Bruins social media team in July featuring Milan Lucic trekking the North End. Famously, Lucic resided in that section of the city during his career with the Bruins, and his return was highlighted by a run-in with David Pastrnak. It would appear a bit of Lucic’s game has rubbed off on Pastrnak- who recorded three hits in the first period alone Thursday night, a feat which leapfrogged him over Charlie McAvoy for team lead.
Thats first line center Pavel Zacha to you
Jim Montgomery wasn’t mincing his words following an uncharacteristic loss at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks on October 26th: “scoring in general is going to be a work in progress.” Evidently, Zacha took that personally and responded by scoring in the next three games. In fact, over his last five games, he’s totaled six points.
Hampus Lindholm is a workhorse
When Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney traded for Anaheim Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm at the 2022 trade deadline it changed the fabric of the Bruins backend. Charlie McAvoy had his running mate, Brandon Carlo, could slide back into a top-4 shutdown role, and most importantly Boston had a security blanket.
Charlie McAvoy had to miss Thursday night’s game as he began the process of serving his four-game suspension. Matt Gryzlcyk and Derek Forbort were also unavailable due to injury. Fortunately, Boston still had Lindholm, who played 30:00 of ice time over 35 shifts.
Hot on the dot
Toronto has as dynamic a one-two punch down the middle as there is across the league. Auston Matthews and John Tavares are more than suitable candidates for winning draws in all three zones. However, Boston won 37 of 55 faceoffs, a winning percentage of 66%. Charlie Coyle and John Beecher led the way 18-22 and 7-7, respectively. A night to forget for Matthews, who didn’t register a win in 11 chances.
The math is just not matching.
Historically, if your goaltender makes 33 saves off 35 shots across 65 minutes of hockey their stats will increase. In Jeremy Swayman’s case, his GAA and SV% actually dipped. Which, if anything, underlines how dynamite he has been to start the year. Better get that checkbook ready Don.
History will be made again.
With their victory on Thursday night, the Boston Bruins became just the third franchise in NHL history to begin back-to-back seasons with nine victories across ten contests. Joining the 2015-16/2016-17 Montreal Canadiens and the 1925-26/1926-27 Ottawa Senators.
In addition the Bruins also secured the most regular season wins over any 100-game span in NHL history. During that span, they’ve gone 80-14-6 for a .833 win percentage. Insanity.
To quote Billy Madison, “he’s good.”
Mitch Marner has recorded 31 points against the Boston Bruins since 2016-17, the most by any opponent during that span.
Last season, the Maple Leafs went 12-0-1 when both Auston Matthew & Mitch Marner scored a goal in the same game. Despite both players scoring Thursday, the Maple Leafs lost.
He signed where?!
After holding firm with expectations of a multi-year, financially lucrative contract from Boston, Tyler Bertuzzi rattled plenty of cages by signing a one-year, 5.5 million dollar contract with Toronto this summer.
Since then, the sailing hasn’t exactly been smooth. Now, three points through 10 games played would be good enough for 9th in scoring on Boston’s roster. But Toronto signed him to be a key component to their ‘core four’. His 11:32 of ice time against his former team was lowest on the Maple Leafs aside from Pontus Holmberg & Ryan Reaves.
Elliotte Friedman had this to say on his 32 Thoughts podcast: “this Bertuzzi thing, he didn’t play the last 8 ½ minutes of regulation, plus overtime, he was demoted to the 4th line… they’re really having trouble making him fit.”
I’ll leave you with this.
Max Mainville tweeted out an interesting retrospective.
Back in 2020, Don Sweeney unloaded David Backes’ contract on the Ducks, and for their trouble, they received a first-round pick; in return, Boston got Ondrej Kase. At the draft, they selected Mason Lohrei 58th overall.
Two years later, Boston once again sent a first-round pick to Anaheim and in return, secured Hampus Lindholm. At the draft, they selected Matt Poitras 54th overall.
Don Sweeney shovels a lot of, you know, for his “inability to draft.” While the sample size is marginal, both Lohrei and Poitras appear to be difference makers.
