The Boston Bruins kicked off the 2019-20 season in impressive fashion earning their 1st win of the season on opening night.
Well, the best day of the year has finally arrived. Hockey is back as the Boston Bruins hit the ice for their first regular-season game of the year.
Obviously, this has been a short season for the Bruins. They lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in brutal fashion. Hopefully, they will be able to put that behind them.
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Now the Bruins roster does look slightly different. Two players made their debut for Boston on Thursday night.
Par Lindholm and Brett Ritchie played their first regular-season games with the spoked B’s on their chest.
Part of the reason for the debuts was because of David Krejci. At morning skate head coach Bruce Cassidy said that Krejci was ‘tender’ and that he would be a game-time decision. That decision ended up being that Krejci wouldn’t play.
Thankfully unlike last season, the Bruins were able to score a goal and even win their first game of the season. The team came out of the gate with a bang and secured a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.
We learned a lot from this opening night win so let’s look at the 3 major takeaways from the Bruins first win of the season.
(P.S. Can we talk about the new NESN logo? My God that is the ugliest thing ever. It’s literally just a futuristic N. They could have paid someone $1 for that thing and I would still call it overpriced.)
1. Brett Ritchie gets his revenge.
The Boston Bruins acquired Brett Ritchie in the offseason and it was unknown where he would slide in. Boston didn’t have a ton of roster turnover.
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Some might have even thought that Ritchie could end up in the AHL. Ritchie had a pretty awful preseason.
Thankfully for Bruins fans, Ritchie turned things around for the regular season. He kicked things off for Boston with their first goal of the season. It came just over a minute into the game and was the Bruins first shot of the game.
Now, this definitely was a special one for Ritchie. He played for the Stars last season so scoring that goal felt just a little bit better.
It looks like Ritchie has earned himself a spot in the lineup for the near future. I think we will see him be a 2nd or 3rd line winger unless he has a string of bad play. It seems like he might surprise some people this season.
2. Tuukka Rask saved the game
The Boston Bruins came out firing in the 1st period, but the last two periods were less than stellar. Boston seemed to be enjoying the lead and were coasting through the game.
This meant that Tuukka Rask would be tested and I would say he passed. Rask is coming off an amazing year that only could have been better if he won the Stanley Cup.
Fans were wondering if he would have been able to keep up his play. Rask is known for getting off to rough starts. It looks like that won’t be the case for Rask this season.
There were countless moments where Rask made great saves that easily could have been goals. He ended the night with 28 saves and looked confident in net.
Rask did allow one goal but it is hard to blame him. Boston’s defensemen allowed a breakaway and even though you wish Rask would have made the save the shot was a snipe.
If Tuukka Rask continues to play like this the Bruins will be just fine this season.
3. Danton Heinen secures the win
After a strong rookie season, Danton Heinen took a bit of a step back. Bruins fans will be happy to see that he is playing much better.
Heinen got to play on the power play and he made it count. He scored his first goal of the season on a rifle of a shot past Ben Bishop. He put everything behind the shot and Bishop had no chance.
The Bruins 3rd line will be special in my opinion. A combination of Heinen, Lindholm, and Karson Kuhlman could score a lot of goals. Then when Charlie Coyle gets dropped down to the 3rd line once David Krejci returns they will be even better.
So the Boston Bruins are undefeated for now. They started their season off on the right foot with a win and look like they haven’t lost a step since last season.
Next up for the Boston Bruins is the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.