They’ll Take It: Bruins’ Historic Start Seems To Defy All Logic
It seems like everything the Boston Bruins have touched over the last few weeks has turned to gold.
No, we’re not just talking about their new sweaters.
The B’s matched their best start in franchise history Tuesday, moving to 6-0-0 with a shutout victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center. In case you haven’t been made aware, the Bruins are celebrating their centennial season, so they’ve been around for quite a while. It’s undoubtedly an impressive feat, but things get downright stunning when you take a closer view at the circumstances.
Boston is just six months removed from a devastating playoff exit at the hands of the Florida Panthers, who ended its historic season after just seven postseason games. The Bruins are also deploying a new roster, with six new forwards on the books — including rookies Matthew Poitras and Johnny Beecher, whose roster spots were opened up by the retirement of both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.
Oh yeah, the B’s are also doing this while head coach Jim Montgomery tinkers with his lines on a nightly basis.
Poitras, for example, has pivoted lines with the likes of Brad Marchand, Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie and Jake DeBrusk. Marchand has been a renaissance man, playing with Poitras, DeBrusk, Geekie, Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak. Milan Lucic has only played in four games but has gotten starts on both the top and bottom lines.
It’s not completely unheard of for a team to deploy different lineups early in the season, but those teams don’t rattle off six consecutive wins while doing so. Montgomery has been a madman on the whiteboard, deploying five different starting line combinations in six games. The 54-year-old would like to slow down, though, admitting the Bruins should be given an opportunity to gain familiarity with each other.
“I didn’t love our lines the last game,” Montgomery said prior to Tuesday’s win. “But we’ll go back to it just because I’d like to get the chemistry going.”
It hasn’t all been Montgomery’s idea, either. The Bruins have had a couple of injuries force changes, with Lucic missing a pair of games and Jakub Lauko expected to miss time after taking a skate to the face.
In terms of the fast start, one could argue Boston has taken advantage of a light schedule to open the season. Its win over the Los Angeles Kings was impressive, but the other five contests came against teams in transition (to put it nicely). The Bruins are doing what they’re supposed to do, however, which is take care of business against inferior opponents. They also survived a four-game road trip that included three straight wins in California. That’s impressive stuff, no matter how you slice it.
The B’s will look to set the franchise mark Thursday night at TD Garden, with a win over the Anaheim Ducks pushing them past the 1937-38 Bruins for the best start in team history. You can catch the game, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, plus an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.