David Pastrnak debuted his new “C” on “B” sweater during the pregame warmup for tonight’s season opener against the New York Rangers, following starter Jeremy Swayman onto the TD Garden ice. With Charlie McAvoy serving the first of six games on NHL suspension for retaliating after a slewfoot, Tanner Jeannot joins Hampus Lindholm as the Boston Bruins other alternate captain.
Whatever else anyone thinks of tonight’s matchup in the NHL and Boston-sports pecking order, the goaltending matchup of Swayman and Igor Shesterkin is among the best individual matchups that team sports has to offer.
It took 3v3 hockey – and almost all 5 minutes – for the season opener in Raleigh, NC, to produce a winner, and it was the Florida Panthers, saving the sport from the first shootout of the season.
FIRST PERIOD
The Bruins come out with a physical brand of hockey, but the Rangers got the game’s first odd-man rush. Will Borgen was back and took away the pass, giving Swayman to shooter. Save. Positive start for Borgen.
Oliver Bjorkstrand took exception to a Nikita Zadorov hit, stayed down a second, and enraged at the lack of a call went after Zadorov, missed, and ran into the right post of Swayman’s net. Zadorov met Bjorkstrand high in the zone, apparently offering the Rangers winger a shot at the title. Only words were exchanged.
The Rangers generate pressure when Mika Zibanejad tips Gabe Perreault’s point shot, but Swayman holds tight at the near post. Jeannot digs for possession at the left point but is going to the penalty box for tripping. The Rangers get the first powerplay 10:27 into the game.
Sean Kuraly, whom many fans want to see put to pasture so the kids can play, makes a crucial block on a shot from the point. The Bruins get the kill.
The Bruins got their first powerplay with 3:04 left in the opening period after Hampus Lindholm was illegally taken down at the left point by center Noah Laba. Only seconds earlier, Laba felt as though he’d been done wrong after a faceoff in the Boston end of the rink.
Two elite maneuvers from Pastrnak to control and move the puck to open teammates, but Hampus Lindholm’s shot is deflected over the end glass. The Rangers get the kill.
J-J Peterka made a shifty move to create a shooting lane and tested Shesterkin.
Jeannot has bad puck luck on two straight touches. The Bruins regroup, and Zadorov escapes a tripping penalty in the final seconds. His on-ice demeanor indicated full expectation of a trip to the penalty box. Keep an eye on the opening shift of the second period for any ticky-tack make-up opportunity to make it right.
Shots after one period are 8-5 Boston.
SECOND PERIOD
Zadorov gets nowhere near a chance at a penalty in his first shift of the second period.
Perreault, the former Boston College star forward, throws the body extremely well for 5-foot-11 and 178 pounds. He protects the puck well and is playing a winning brand of hockey in the attacking zone.
The second period has been much livelier than the first. The Bruins earned scoring chances with strong puck support, but Shesterkin turned away Pavel Zacha on a clean breakaway, and got Morgan Geekie to miss the net twice. Fraser Minten got a nice, low shot on net, but Shesterkin kicked it away.
Then the Rangers pressed the attack, using screens, but Swayman picked off a shot from the point to end the action.
Right-shot defenseman Braden Schneider found his way to the left circle and one-timed a shot that Swayman stopped.
The goaltending is living up to the billing.
Pastrnak has been magical tonight, but his plays are not developing into goals. Some of that is Shesterkin and some of it a lack of chemistry with Peterka and Elias Lindholm. This will take time.
After Laba beat Minten on a D-zone draw and sent the Rangers up the ice for a quick relay that ended with Swayman making an awkward save, Marat Khusnutdinov collected a slow puck at center and fed Minten, but Shesterkin was once again equal to the task. Yes, the cliches are out tonight.
Shots through two periods: 15-14 Boston
THIRD PERIOD
Coach Marco Sturm starts the third period with his go-to pairing of Clifton and Zadorov, and Pavel Dorofeyev steals the puck behind the Boston net and tries to stuff it on Swayman – no dice. The Borgen-Lindholm and Aspirot-Lohrei pairings then give up Grade A looks, as the Rangers push for the game’s first goal.
The Bruins have to be better to get point(s) out of this one.
Will Cuylle tips a pass onto Swayman. Rangers have the first five shots of the third period, and they’re all good ones.
The hustling fourth line of Kuraly between Jeannot and Mark Kastelic forces Shesterkin to make an awkward move to keep the puck away from the left post.
Sturm is now pinching his defensemen. The Bruins are playing a five-man attack in an effort to play more of this period in the Rangers’ end of the rink. The strategy comes with some risk. It’s the kind of hockey you see more in the playoffs, when offense is even harder to come by than it has been tonight. There have been glittering scoring chances, but the goalies have made them look less formidable.
Swayman makes the 1-2-punch saves of the game after Clifton’s stick breaks on a wrist (!) shot. Dorofeyev had a partial breakaway, but Clifton bothered him just enough to hamper the shot. A pass to the slot, and Swayman had to make another big save to preserve the scoreless duel with 10:52 on the game clock.
The Rangers battle again around Swayman, think they’ve got one in but the whistle ended play. Aspirot and Matt Rempe battle post-whistle and Jeannot steps in. No full-out fight.
Zacha is kicked off the dot, and Geekie pulls the backhand to beat Laba on the D-zone draw. Zacha’s wrister from the right circle off the rush hits the far post about halfway up. Close call for the Bruins.
Mittelstadt has an odd-man rush, looks off the pass, save Shesterkin. Mittelstadt has played a very good game tonight.
Lohrei carries deep right corner and feeds an onrushing Kuraly. The play doesn’t connect, but Lohrei has been good with the puck tonight. He’s had a couple of defensive lapses, but this is the best version of Lohrei since probably the 2024 playoffs.
Down to 6:50 in the third period. Both teams must feel like they deserve two points tonight.
James Hagens has not lost Sturm’s trust skating with Minten and Khusnutdinov. Hagens’ neutral-zone play has been heady.
Lohrei makes a nifty puck-control play, and Minten skates it between the circles and flicks the puck stick side past Shesterkin with 3:46 left. Bruins lead 1-0.
Peterka puts the puck between Schneider’s legs and then scores to make it 2-0 with 2:54 left, and before Mike Sullivan could get his team into a different gear it’s suddenly a major hole.
Borgen starts the puck out of trouble, and Kastelic finishes on the open net with 2:31 remaining. 3-0.
If we get the Rempe fight with Zadorov or Jeannot, it happens now.
The Bruins had only put seven shots on Shesterkin since the opening period until Minten’s GWG late in the third period. So, while the result is certainly not on Shesterkin – those were quality chances – it was looking like New York’s game to win until Minten found paydirt.
The Bruins are 1-0-0.
Drive safely.
