The Boston Bruins are starting the season strong. They stormed into Washington DC and took on the capitals. With a strong performance, Marco Sturm achieved his first victory as head coach and saw his team win the match 3-1. There was plenty to digest from this game, so let’s dive in.
Jeremy Swayman is back
Last season was one to forget if you were Jeremy Swayman. Things didn’t go as planned, but he did play better as the season progressed and dominated at the World Championship. Coming into Game 1 of the 2025-26 season and with a clean slate, Swayman was dialed in from the start.
Related: Three things to watch for in the Bruins vs. Capitals season opener
Swayman was sharp and even picked up mistakes from his defenders early in the game. Hampus Lindholm nearly coughed one up just short of the goal area to give the Capitals an early lead. Despite the Bruins scoring the first goal, the Capitals dominated the shot totals and controlled the play of the match. Every ounce of rubber thrown his way was stopped, and the Capitals did very little to make Swayman feel uncomfortable.
When the game ended, Swayman had stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced. Moreover, he finished the match with a whopping 3.22 goals saved beyond expectations. He was completely dialed in and was a big reason why the Bruins were in this game for the entire 60 minutes.
Bruins Low Event offense
The Bruins’ scoring was always a concern heading into the 2025-2026 season. Of course, their only goal came from the stick of their most valuable offensive asset: David Pastrnak. The other concern was how this team would generate offense. What kind of pressure could they create? The answer everyone got in the first game was very little.
It’s all about capitalizing on the opportunities you get, and that’s what the Bruins did. However, they had very low offensive output. At five-on-five, this match was mainly in favor of the Capitals. The Bruins were dominated in expected goals share of 2.26-0.8 for the first two periods of the game. Furthermore, they only generated five risky opportunities in all situations. Quality wasn’t on their side in this match, but aside from second period mishandling, they got the better of the Capitals in the first and third periods.
The fourth line was effective
The top line was delivered, as you would expect. Pastrnak scored the first goal, then he and Elias Lindholm connected on the power play for the go-ahead goal. However, when it came to the rest of the lines, the fourth line stood out the most in the group. The line of Marat Khusnutdinov, Mark Kastelic and Sean Kuraly was effective.
This trio can do a lot of special things, and things that we saw in this game. They are ruthless in the forward area, bring that physical element to the line-up and can generate offense when they get pressure in the zone.
Khusnutdinov in particular stood out. He brings a lot of speed to the lineup and has a knack for creating offense. That trio did that in this match. When they were on the ice, they outscored the opposition 9-4 and controlled expected goals in 89.6% of the game. You’d like to see some finishing ability, but being able to run a line that can control the flow of the game is huge.
Big win against a good team
The Capitals are a good hockey team. But this was a good win for the Bruins. They played with structure and got production from their top players. Swayman had a great performance and this is a great way to go into Thursday night’s home opener.
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