No Expectations, Just Vibes: Bruins Open Up Centennial Season With 3-1 Win Over Chicago

Marina10/12/2023 2:54 AM

Steve Babineau. Getty Images.

My mantra going into this season was no expectations, just vibes… and that's just how the season opener was. Was it flashy? No. Did they get the job done? Absolutely. I'd be remiss to not start this blog with the UNBELIEVEABLE pregame ceremony from the Bruins, honoring their alumni for the Centennial Season. Very cool to see the likes of Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr, and even Tim Thomas!!!!! came out to Boston. Will post the full version once it's available online, because it was really great if you're a Bruins fan. Pretty emotional seeing everyone together again.

Chicago opened the scoring thanks to freak of nature Connor Bedard who came as advertised. His wrist shot is something to behold, reminds me of Auston Matthews but way faster. Felt like he was on the ice all night and Chicago played the day before. He's gonna be a great player in this league for a very long time but gonna sucks that the Bruins/Ullmark will turn into a trivia question one day haha. Fun fact: Vancouver native Connor Bedard was 6 when the Boston Bruins won the 2011 Stanley Cup.

Trent Frederic's tip tied things up in the 1st. Great play by Matt Poitras to get it to Carlo and an even better tip drill from Freddy. 1st NHL point for Poitras.

David Pastrnak gave the Bruins the lead in the 2nd thanks to a feed from Milan Lucic and the Bruins didn't look back. He'd add an empty netter and that was all she wrote.

FINAL: Boston 3, Chicago 1

Obviously a lot more to digest than that measly recap so let's get into some nitty gritty…

- NHL Debuts for Matthew Poitras and Johnny Beecher, thought both played really well and fit pretty seamlessly. Poitras picked up his first NHL point with his set up on Trent Frederic's goal, he saw the ice with a lot of different players as Jim Montgomery put the lines in a blender for much of the game. Beecher and the 4th line were FLYING. I couldn't believe my eyes. Beecher had a tough boarding call, and dropped the gloves to answer the bell for the bad hit. All in all pretty solid debuts for the kids.

- Milan Lucic played up and down the lineup after the 4th line came out hot. He picked up his first point for the Bruins since 2015 with his apple on David Pastrnak's GWG. What year is it?!!? He was mic'd up for TNT which you heard a lot of heavy breathing, but Jim Montgomery said he came into camp in amazing shape. Emotional hearing all the LOOOOOCHHHH's!!!

- The Power Play stunkkkkkk. PP2 actually had some decent chances but my goodness that was ugly.

- Like I said, since the lines were put into a bit of a blender we got to see DeBrusk play with Pastrnak and Zacha and hoooo booyyy did they have some chances. Could be a line to watch going forward.

- Chicago was on the 2nd night of a back to back, with all eyes/pressure on Bedard. Boston had a sleepy start to the 3rd but finally found their legs and had a flurry of offensive chances but Soderstrom kept Chicago in it.

- Sad to hear former Bruin Taylor Hall will be out longterm after getting injured against his former team. Believe he got tied up with Brandon Carlo and looked like he might have hurt his shoulder. Wish him all the best. Tough for Chicago to lose a mentor like that for Bedard.

- We need to get Biz on the horn with TNT to figure out why they have such an INSANE delay for games. The Bruins twitter account shouldn't be nearly 2 minutes faster than the game feed!!!!

Gonna be a feeling out process with the lines but liked the effort tonight. B's played fast but felt like execution could be a little sharper. Linus Ullmark finished with 20 saves.

Back at it Saturday against the Predators. Fuck, does it feel good to have Bruins hockey back.