Bruins Beat Bedard, Blackhawks on Opening Night (10/11/23)

After the unmitigated disaster last year that took a historic season and flushed it down the toilet with the most humiliating playoff loss since the 2010 reverse sweep, the Boston Bruins did manage to start the 2023-24 season on a high note by beating rookie sensation Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks in front of a sold out crowd at TD Garden. In the Bruins 100th centennial season, the Bruins defense played the heroes in this one. Bedard himself scored the first goal of the season but Trent Frederic tied the game a few minutes later. In the second period David Pastrnak scored his first of the season assisted by the returning Milan Lucic to put the Bruins on top. At that point the suffocating Bruins defense led by Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and new Bruin Kevin Shattenkirk stymied the Blackhawks. Linus Ullmark stopped the next 20 straight shots after the Bedard goal and Pastrnak scored an empty netter with a minute left to ice the game. The Bruins may be weaker offensively than last year but the defense held the fort in this one as they beat the Blackhawks 3-1 at TD Garden.

                                                    The new captain celebrates with Pasta

The Bruins almost scored right away when Jakub Lauko damn near put one past Arvid Soderblom 15 seconds into the game. Two minutes later Wyatt Kaiser got called for cross checking to put the Bruins on their first power play of the season. Brad Marchand got a good shot off but Soderblom stoned it. The Blackhawks struck first when Bedard scored his first NHL goal on a wraparound 5:37 into the first period. To add insult to injury, two former Bruins Ryan Donato and Taylor Hall assisted on the goal. New Bruin James van Riemsdyk almost tucked one past Soderblom seven minutes into the first but couldn't get it through. The Bruins got on the board 11:22 into the first when Brandon Carlo fired a slapshot and the puck deflected off Trent Frederic's stick into the net to tie the game. The Blackhawks had a chance to jump ahead when Hampus Lindholm heaved the puck out of play for a delay of game penalty, but Ullmark stopped Taylor Hall on the power play. The Bruins headed into the break tied 1-1.

                                                              Tie game

The second period was all Bruins as Kaiser got called for tripping to put the B's on the powerplay 3 minutes into the period. Kevin Shattenkirk fired on Soderblom and new Bruin Morgan Geekie almost put it in. Bedard got called for tripping 7:48 into the period but the Bruins did nothing on the ensuing powerplay. Jake DeBrusk then got called for tripping 10 minutes into the period but the Bruins killed it off. Then 13:09 into the second, the returning Milan Lucic found a streaking David Pastnak who shot it past Soderblom to give the Bruins the lead. Ullmark stoned Connor Murphy cold with a few minutes remaining but the Bruins failed to score in the final seconds to head into intermission up 2-1.

                                                   Welcome back Looch

The third period started ominously when Lucic got his first Bruin penalty minutes in nine years by holding the stick 20 seconds into the period. The Bruins killed it off then things got chippy. Bruins rookie John Beecher boarded one of the Blackhawks and Jason Dickinson said PUT EM UP! After an even fight, Dickinson took a 2 minute instigator penalty and a 10 minute game misconduct for attacking the rookie who didn't even board him. The Blackhawks almost tied it when Lukas Reichel got a partial breakaway but Ullmark made the save four minutes into the period. 19 year old rookie Matthew Poitras assisted on the Frederic goal earlier and almost tucked one past Sodenblom with 12 minutes left in the game. Poitras then stripped Reichel off the puck and Frederic missed a great shot from the point. Lucic almost set up Pavel Zacha but Sodenblom made a great save 9 minutes into the period. Pastrnak got robbed shortly after but Ullmark had to make a great stop on Reichel to keep the game 2-1. The Bruins peppered the net with 2 minutes left but Sodenblom made some great stops. The Hawks pulled their goalie with a minute left but defenseman Charlie McAvoy found Brad Marchand who passed it to a wide open Pastrnak who buried the empty net goal to ice it. The Bruins had defeated the Blackhawks on Opening Night 3-1.

                                                     Bruins win

Reaction:

Good win by the Bruins but they have a lot of work to do this season to erase the stink of last year's choke. The retirements of Patrice Bergeron & David Krejci along with losing Garnet Hathaway, Taylor Hall and others did create some roster spots. The Bruins got much older and much younger at the same time by signing aging veterans Lucic, JVR and Shattenkirk but giving 22 year old Beecher and 19 year old Poitras a chance to play. We may see 20 year old Fabian Lysell make his NHL debut later this year as well. Now the Bruins got weaker offensively by losing a lot of top 6 talent but their defense is still as nasty as it was last year. If Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman stay healthy this team can still keep the puck out of the net as well as they did last year. They'll need a tougher test than the Blackhawks to show off but that time is coming. Its good to see Lucic back in uniform after 9 years away and he pretty much replaces Nick Foligno as the "uncle" of the team. Replacing Krejci with James van Riemsdyk was interesting although Kevin Shattenkirk might be an upgrade over Connor Clifton. The real story is trusting Poitras and Beecher to replace Hall & Hathaway. We'll see what happens moving forward but for now its a new season and the Bruins won their first game. The B's will be back in action Saturday night when they take on Roman Josi and the Nashville Predators. The game begins at 7:00 PM at TD Garden.