The Bruins spent an entire offseason, and then a media day conference this past Monday, telling us how they were going to have to win. They mentioned the grind, the defense, and the tightness with which they’d have to play to experience success in 2025-26. To some, it’d be called boring, especially by 2025 standards in a league that adds more speed and more skill every single season with each wave of young talent. But team president Cam Neely went as far as to call his team loaded with more “piss and vinegar.”
And on night one, the Bruins were indeed as advertised.
Watching Marco Sturm‘s Bruins in the first period, you saw a suffocating presence in the defensive zone. The Capitals were held to the outside. Their looks struggled to get on goal. And when they did have an angle or quality chance, Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman was there to cut it down.
It was not that surgical for the full 60 minutes, but it’s not going to be for these Bruins, either. Instead, it was about bending but not breaking, and simply staying in it until they got results at the other end of the rink. The Bruins did exactly that in the second period, with the Bruins connecting on a long-range, seeing-eye shot from David Pastrnak while Swayman went a perfect 17-for-17 at the other end.
And when the Capitals tied things up, the Bruins made sure they didn’t let a ‘gimme’ fall off the board when John Carlson was called for a downright laughably bad penalty on Morgan Geekie. It’s as if the Bruins knew they didn’t have enough offense in the tank to let a golden chance like that fall by the wayside, and instead made good on it with an Elias Lindholm power-play goal.
For the Bruins, it feels like there’s going to be a ‘simple’ formula of sorts that’ll keep them afloat when going against higher-powered offenses: Suffocate, strike, survive, strike again, suffocate again.
“They played exactly how I want them to play and that makes me happy,” Sturm, who cited Claude Julien and Darryl Sutter as his coaching influences upon taking the job in Boston, said following the win.
I think when we looked at the Bruins this season, you got the sense that fans would tolerate two different visions for the 2025-26 team: The Bruins could be boring in terms of their offensive production and ceiling, so long as they’re successful and are winning games their way. And conversely, the Bruins could be unsuccessful, so long as they’re entertaining and people have a reason to watch (developing younger players, seeing the future vision, etc.).
On Wednesday, the Bruins were the former. And nobody’s complaining. Not after going through 82 games of what was bad and boring a year ago.
Let’s take a look at some other takeaways, thoughts, and notes from a 3-1 Bruins win down in Washington…
Bruins first line still clicking
Oct 8, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Capitals at Capital One Arena. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)
Sturm has acknowledged that there are going to be nights where he’s going to have ride his roster’s top dogs. At least offensively, and namely with his Morgan Geekie- Elias Lindholm- David Pastrnak line.
That proved to be true right out of the gate, too, with the line was on the ice for all three of Boston’s goals Wednesday. And all three had a hand in what the Bruins were able to accomplish, as Pastrnak finished with a goal with two helpers while both Lindholm and Geekie had a goal and an assist each.
Again, this is nothing new with this line.
Going back to last season, the Bruins have outscored opponents 17-4 and outshot them 60-42 in 107 minutes with the Geekie-Lindholm-Pastrnak line on the ice at five-on-five play. Expand that to all situations (and taking out empty-net goals both for and against), and it’s a 26-7 scoring advantage for the Bruins in 163 minutes with this trio out there. It’s been just a disgustingly good weapon for Boston, and you could argue that their first-period efforts on Wednesday should’ve only added to these numbers.
It’s entirely possible that this line scores a combined 100 goals this season (something we haven’t seen since the days of the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line), but they’ll need some support to emerge on lines two-four.
Recapping a few B’s debuts
Oct 8, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Bruins left wing Viktor Arvidsson (71) and Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin (38) battle for the puck. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)
Up front, three Bruins made their debuts for the club in this one, headlined by second-line right winger Viktor Arvidsson. Deployed for 11:50 of time on ice, Arvidsson finished this game with a minus-1 rating and landed just one of his four shot attempts on goal. Arvidsson’s best chance came on a breakaway look in the second period of action. There’s still plenty of speed in Arvidsson’s legs, which is an obvious positive when talking about a 32-year-old coming off a 15-goal 2024-25 campaign, but it feels like Arvidsson and his linemates (Casey Mittelstadt and Pavel Zacha) are going to be feast or famine.
On line three, meanwhile, Tanner Jeannot and Mikey Eyssimont suited up for their Bruins debut and in a supporting role as Fraser Minten’s wingers.
In 13:52 of time on ice, Jeannot had two hits and a blocked shot, and logged 3:16 of time on ice on the penalty kill. It was his most shorthanded time on ice in a single game since 2023, and it was for a Boston penalty kill that finished the night a perfect 5-for-5. On the opposite wing, Eyssimont finished with a team-leading three shots on goal in 10:55 of time on ice.
Everything else
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 08: Sean Kuraly #52 of the Bruins checks Justin Sourdif #34 of the Capitals during the first period at Capital One Arena on October 8, 2025. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
– Like I said off the jump, it feels like creating offense consistently could be an issue for this team. To that point, and by my counts, Sturm’s Bruins had five different segments in this game where they went at least five minutes a shot on goal. Those stretches were 5:21, 5:28, 6:03, a 9:27 segment in the first period, and then a game-high 10:01 stretch without a shot on goal from the second period into the third period. If that’s going to be the norm, the stress on the Bruins to capitalize on the chances they do generate will remain.
– Capitals winger Tom Wilson brought the heavy in this game. He was green-lighting Bruins (namely Mason Lohrei) all game long, and these were some heavy hits. The Bruins’ Mark Kastelic did come calling after one of his hits on Lohrei, but Wilson declined fighting him. This is the biggest potential problem with the approach of being a more physical team: The guys who are physical on your players are not under any obligation to honor your requests for a fight. Not everyone is going to be spooked out of throwing a hard, potentially injury-inducing hit on your skill players because you beefed up your bottom six.
– Did you know: This was the Bruins’ first Opening Night without one of Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and/or Brad Marchand on their roster since 2002. Current B’s general manager Don Sweeney played in that game. John Grahame was the starting goaltender that night. Just another sign that time stops for no one and that this truly is the end of an era for the Bruins.
Up next: The Bruins host the Blackhawks at TD Garden on Thursday night.