Takeaways: What we learned from the Bruins’ 1st road win

While the Bruins beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-3, they also encountered their share of hiccups and close calls.

They may have come away with two more points to begin their three-game trip, but while the Boston Bruins had a few encouraging developments from their 5-3 victory over the struggling Colorado Avalanche, they also encountered their share of hiccups and close calls.

Here are a few thoughts from Boston’s first road win of the young season.

The fourth line continues its early season roll.

Through the first two weeks of the 2024-25 campaign, Jim Montgomery and the coaching staff continued to rotate personnel within the second and third lines. To pick up some of the secondary scoring slack, the Bruins leaned heavily on their fourth line of Johnny Beecher, Mark Kastelic and Cole Koepke.

After producing all three of Boston’s tallies in Monday’s loss to Florida, the fourth line picked up where they left off, beginning with Koepke’s tip on Andrew Peeke’s initial shot at 13:46 of the opening frame.

Between their effective checking and puck support around the front of the net, Boston’s fourth line created several quality looks. Beecher, who put the finishing touches of Wednesday’s win with the empty-netter, exemplified those traits in the second after setting a screen for Hampus Lindholm to extend Boston’s lead to 4-1 in the second period.

“That whole line’s been amazing for us,” Lindholm told reporters. “They’re the hardest workers out there, and they earn everything they get.”

Frankly, the Bruins may have encountered a worse start without the early-season scoring production from their fourth line. In fact, a new moniker could be in store for a trio that’s outscored opponents 8-0 during 5v5 play.

“I think we have to stop calling them the fourth line,” Montgomery said to the media. “It’s impressive the way they’re playing. They’re earning all the ice time they’re getting. Their details, their work ethic, and their puck support with one another offensively and defensively allow them to have a tremendous amount of success.”

The third line has their ice time cut short.

In his latest attempt at sparking his second and third lines, Montgomery moved Trent Frederic up to second-line duty next to Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle, while inserting Max Jones and Riley Tufte into third-line roles next to Matthew Poitras.

By the early portion of the final frame, Montgomery had shortened his lineup after watching Tufte commit his second offensive zone penalty.

Jones fared a tad better, landing four hits and a shot on net. But he hardly made enough of an impact to warrant extended ice time after Rantanen had cut Boston’s lead to one just 23 seconds after Tufte’s cross-checking infraction.

Ultimately, Poitras wound up with the raw end of the bargain. Instead of gaining valuable experience during crunch time, the second-year pro had to sit and learn from the bench despite going 6-for-7 from the faceoff circle.

In their first game together, Jones, Poitras and Tufte each logged less than 10 minutes of ice time.

“I’ve always been a coach that if you go out and you play the right way and you’re showing effort and execution, you’re going to get rewarded with ice time,” Montgomery told the press. “We have to continue to build that throughout the lineup.”

The next attempt at a third-line spark may involve reinserting Justin Brazeau and Morgan Geekie ahead of Saturday’s trip to Utah.

Brad Marchand briefly exits

Given the shifting personnel within the second and third lines, an injury to one of the top scorers would significantly impact Boston’s outlook.

The Bruins nearly encountered that development after Marchand went into the locker room during the second period. During that bruising middle frame, the second-year Boston captain took a heavy hit from Josh Manson and fell awkwardly to the ice following a collision with Mikko Rantanen.

Marchand returned for his first shift at the 6:17 mark of the third. Afterward, Montgomery provided a quick update on Marchand with the traveling media in Denver.

“Oh, Brad’s fine, yeah,” Montgomery said of Marchand. “Just a spasm.”

Boston’s top weapons produce on the power play

The slow-moving power play and the lack of firepower coming from Boston’s top weapons — along with losing the ‘mental side of the battle’ again with Florida — provided the top topics from Monday’s setback. With the Panthers in the rearview until January, the Bruins addressed the other two discussion points accordingly.

After failing to score on their last 12 attempts entering Wednesday, both of Boston’s man-advantage units found the back of the net. Aside from their lone attempt in the third, the power play established better entries, puck movement and shot attempts in the attacking zone.

“Very similar both goals,” Montgomery said of Boston’s two power-play markers. “Real good entries, real good breakouts with the speed that allowed us to have success at the crease.”

Both goals came on seam passes toward the front of the net, beginning with Mason Lohrei’s feed to Coyle to put the Bruins ahead for good at 17:09 of the first.

The Bruins pounced again on their next power play attempt with a similar sequence down the other end of the ice involving Lindholm and David Pastrnak to extend the lead to 3-1 at 9:09 of the second.

The penalty kill struggles

With their even strength and the power play output, the Bruins generated one of their more productive 60-minute outings of the season. Even still, they made their path to victory a little more difficult on themselves.

At least they didn’t run into penalty trouble. Yet, despite facing a season-low three power-play attempts, Boston’s shorthanded unit couldn’t stop Colorado’s potent man advantage.

Rantanen factored into all three of Colorado’s power play tallies, setting up Ross Colton on a give-and-go sequence in the first and assisting on Cale Makar’s one-timer in the second before pulling the Avs within one after beating Korpisalo cleanly.

Between a tone-setting hit from a debuting Matt Steinburg on Poitras — prompting Nikita Zadorov into a fight and subsequent embellishment penalty — and Colorado’s potent power play, the Bruins scrambled to finish off the Avs. They survived thanks to the play in net.

Joonas Korpisalo bounced back.

The Swede likely would’ve wanted another chance at Rantanen’s third-period tally. Aside from that, Joonas Korpisalo remained dialed in during his second start of the season.

Korpisalo didn’t face as much traffic compared to his opening night appearance, making 22 saves on the night including 13 during the final 20 minutes. Whenever Boston’s D broke down, Korpisalo was there to make the timely stop, be it on Miles Wood’s breakaway attempt in the opening minute or a diving paddle save on Colton along the net front.

“He allowed us to get our feet back into the game by that great save on Wood’s breakaway early in the first two minutes,” Montgomery said. “He just kept making big-time saves throughout the game, and especially in the third.”