It is the best time of the year. The NHL season 2025-26 is underway and it’s time for the Boston Bruins to play their first game. They open the season with a back-to-back and their first game is in Washington to compete against the capitals. A discouraging task for your first game, because the capitals were the best team for regular season in the Eastern Conference during the 2024-25 season. There is plenty to watch in this matchup.
Can the top rule pick up where they have gone?
When it comes to the goal score of the Bruins, something goes beyond the first rule something to pay attention to. Can those lines offer a shock in the first game? That is something to check, while the Bruins take the ice for the first time under new head coach Marco Sturm.
But the only thing that will be a good sign to see is the top rule that goes where they have gone. The top line of the Bruins of Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak will be a line that carries most of the target score. The trio ended the season together and did great to build chemistry at work. They see going further where they had gone, will be huge.
Per natural stat trickThey spent 93 minutes together and checked puck ownership 56.85% of the time. The trio defeated the opposition 16-4 and checked the expected goals by 64.29%. They started clicking, and that was what they had in mind when they signed Lindholm to play with pastrnak.
The capitals were one of the best teams during the 2024-25 season, and they are a good challenge for De Bruins. The top line that clicks from the start is huge in the new season.
Can special teams play?
The bar is low for the Bruins, but playing their special teams can be better. Their Power Play was at the bottom of the competition and had a success rate of 15.2%. However, they get a healthy Charlie Mcavoy and Hampus Lindholm back.
Related: Bruins Superlative Award predictions for the 2025-26 season
When it came to the Power Play attack, it was often predictable. Looking at the heating cards via hockey namelyThe Bruins Pastnak mainly Pastrnak de Puck. Of course you want him to photograph, but teams will expect that. De Bruins will want to become more creative and find other ways to offend to the benefit of the man. Can they use the bumperspot well? Who is still a scoring threat? They have options.
De Bruins have the talent, especially with the shoot-first mentality of Morgan Geekie. There are enough weapons that special teams can help them win games, but it will not be easy. During the 2024-25 season, the capitals had the fifth best penalty kill unit with a success rate of 82.5%.
The element of toughness
There is one thing that the Bruins will implement in their selection. They are a team that is built on toughness and are difficult to play. It seems like a sentiment that they tried to implement during the 2024-25 season. Cam Neely had a quote that goes loudly About how this team wants to play.
“I think teams are circling against the Bruins and going:” Oh damn, we have to play against them tonight. “
This sentiment comes from the additions they have made this free desk period. The club added Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly and Michael Eyssimont to integrate more toughness into the line -up. It was an important target to strengthen the lower six, Add elements that they believe are missed.
“We needed more piss and vinegar at the bottom of our (forward) line -up and certainly founded that in the Free Office last summer.”
Eyssimont is a scourge to play against. He is a player who will use his speed to find out pucks on the pre -check and to wear out the opposition. He is not afraid to finish his checks, while he threw more than 100 hits. Kuraly is a player they are familiar with, but Jeannot was their biggest signing in terms of dollars.
If Jeannot can produce close to his 2021-22 season, where he scored 24 goals and 41 points, the bottom six of the Bruins is in a much better form. But he is a hard -working player and someone who is not afraid to go to the front of the net to create a greasy score. He can do it hard for everything and also hits everything in sight. He has on average more than 200 hits in the last three seasons.
The way in which the schedule of the Bruins is constructed, the lower two lines are built on toughness and are difficult to play. Can they bring that physical element against what a physically cool capitals team is? We’ll see.
New Year, Nieuwe Bruins
With a new head coach in place, expectations must develop and grow. Determining an identity and playing in the right way are things that Sturm said in his press conference.
‘No. I want to see us grow. I want my players to play the way we all want them to play and get that identity back. ”
This match against the capitals will be great to see what this Bruins team was made of and what identity they have put for themselves.
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