Bruins Notes: Young Guns Making Huge Difference Early
BOSTON — The Bruins have a really good young core, and it’s rare you’ll find a game that better illustrates their impact than Saturday’s win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Matthew Poitras, for instance, had perhaps the best game of his young career after being sidelined from meaningful action for almost eight months. Mason Lohrei tallied the game-winning assist just one game after being designated a healthy scratch. John Beecher led the team in blocked shots with four, including one on a near-empty net.
The B’s are getting production out of the kids.
“It’s nice,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said postgame. “It’s — those kids are special young players who are learning to be real good hockey players in this league. I loved the response by Lohrei after not playing last game.
“Matty Poitras, for his first game back in eight months, was special,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said postgame. “I thought that was the best game he’s played as an NHL player, including some two goal games last year. You can see how hard he worked in the offseason, and you saw his strength in skating throughout whole shifts. It’s a significant difference from last year, so when he has the stamina to stay on the ice long he’ll have the chance to make plays.”
Not bad.
Lohrei, Beecher and Poitras actually graded out as the three most impactful players in the win, per HockeyStatCards. David Pastrnak, who we all seem to forget is still just 28, scored the game-winning goal. Jeremy Swayman, sitting comfy with that eight-year extension, made 33 saves.
The Bruins are set up pretty nicely.
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Bruins-Kings produced some other noteworthy items on Saturday:
— Pastrnak moved into fifth place (61) on the club’s all-time game-winning goals list with his tally in overtime, sitting behind Johnny Bucyk (88), Patrice Bergeron (81), Phil Esposito (77) and Brad Marchand (77).
— Poitras tallied his first assist of the season on the game-winner, drawing praise from around the locker room postgame.
— Bruins center Elias Lindholm scored his second goal and fifth point across the first three games of the season Saturday, cleaning up a rebound off a Brad Marchand drive.
“He’s had a really good career,” Lindholm said postgame. “He’s one of the biggest competitors I’ve seen, practice, games, whatever. It’s huge for people to see that. He wears the ‘C’ for a reason, and I couldn’t think of a better guy to do it.”
— The Bruins will bring an end to their first homestand of the season Monday, as they host a highly-anticipated rematch with the Florida Panthers at TD Garden. It’s a matinee matchup, with puck drop scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.