Bruins’ new era off to good start as young players impress in opener originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — Wednesday night was, in many ways, the start of a new era for the Bruins.
Most of the key players from the 2011 Stanley Cup team and the veteran core of the last decade are gone. Zdeno Chara, Tuukka Rask, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci have all retired in recent years.
If the Bruins are going to remain a top contender in the Eastern Conference and build a new championship-winning core for the future, they need their young players to step up and thrive in bigger roles.
The results through one game — a 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden — were encouraging.
After the Bruins lost their top two centers in Bergeron and Krejci to retirement over the offseason, the biggest question mark coming into Opening Night was whether the team’s rookie pivots could not only keep their spot in the lineup full time, but also drive puck possession and produce enough offense to help offset the high amount of scoring firepower Boston lost in the offseason.
One of those rookie centers, Matthew Poitras, made his NHL debut Wednesday on the third line after an excellent showing in training camp and the preseason.
It didn’t take him long to get on the scoresheet. Poitras was instrumental in the buildup to Boston’s first goal. He showed great patience with the puck, waited for defenseman Brandon Carlo to skate into the attacking zone and fed him a clean pass. Carlo’s point shot was tipped past Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom and into the net by Trent Frederic, another young player the B’s hope takes another step this season. After setting career highs with 17 goals and 14 assists last season, the 25-year-old Frederic should play an even larger role offensively for the B’s in 2023-24.
“I thought he was really good,” Frederic said when asked about Poitras’ debut. “It helps getting an assist in your first period. I told him, I think it took me over 100 periods to have that happen. So, I don’t know what that feels like, but it’s probably good. I thought he played really good. He did everything he did in the preseason and even better.”
Poitras finished with an assist, four shots and four scoring chances in 14:50 of ice time.
“I thought he did well,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said of Poitras. “The first goal we scored was all his savvy and poise with the puck.”
The other rookie center in action was John Beecher, who made his NHL debut after being a first-round pick in 2019. He won the fourth-line center job in camp over veteran Patrick Brown, and it doesn’t look like the University of Michigan product will give up that role anytime soon.
Beecher played with physicality, speed and helped the fourth line drive offense all night. In fact, his line with Milan Lucic and Jakub Lauko was probably Boston’s best trio. The Bruins had a 9-2 advantage in shot attempts, a 5-1 edge in shots on net and a 3-1 lead in scoring chances during this line’s 5:43 of 5-on-5 ice time together, per Natural Stat Trick.
Beecher isn’t one to shy away from an altercation, either, and he dropped the gloves in the third period with Blackhawks forward Jason Dickinson for his first career NHL fight.
David Pastrnak is already an NHL superstar after scoring 61 goals last season and being a Hart Trophy finalist. How would he fare without Bergeron or Krejci at center on his line? Quite well, actually. The 27-year-old right wing scored the game-winning goal and an empty-net tally in Boston’s victory over Chicago. He now has six goals in eight Opening Night games.
Pavel Zacha, who’s now the second-line center after Krejci’s retirement, also fared well in his new role. He tallied three shot attempts, won eight of his 11 faceoffs and helped his line earn a 7-3 edge in shot attempts and a 3-1 advantage in scoring chances during 5-on-5 action. Zacha set career highs with 21 goals and 36 assists last season, and he’ll be expected to match or exceed those numbers now that he’s a top-six center. Wednesday night was a good start for him and his line.
It’s important not to take away too much from the first game of the season, especially when the opponent is one of the bottom-third teams in the league and playing on the second night of a back-to-back. But it was encouraging for the Bruins to see so many young players — primarily Poitras, Beecher, Frederic, Lauko and Zacha — not only play well in their new and bigger roles, but also look really confident at the same time.
The Bruins have a strong foundation of veterans on the blue line and in net. It should be enough to carry them to the playoffs. But if they want to actually do damage in late April, May and June, they need these young players to excel in their new roles. That’s going to be the difference between a first-round exit and a lengthy playoff run.
So far, so good in that regard after one game, but it’s a long, long season.
