Safe to Say That Wasn't Quite the Start That the Bruins Wanted to 2015-16

With their top two defensemen (Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg) sidelined for the start of the season, the Bruins' most glaring weakness became even more bleak. Their 6-2 loss to Winnipeg tonight at TD Garden will only increase the panic for Boston fans with high-octane Montreal (on Saturday night) and Tampa Bay (on Monday afternoon) coming to town this Columbus Day long weekend. Would you believe that the B's actually led 1-0 after a pretty decent first period?

Yeah, it was all downhill from there as the Jets outscored them 3-0 and scored three more in the third after Boston briefly cut it to 3-2. Tuukka Rask (26 saves) wasn't at fault so much as his awful defense which time and again let him down. Conversely, Boston generated plenty of scoring chances but couldn't finish (a huge problem last season) and therefore made Ondrej Pavelec (29 saves) look like a quality NHL goaltender which is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

Things began on a good note for the home team as David Krejci scored just 5:36 into the first. David Pastrnak stole the puck behind Winnipeg's net then passed to Krejci (with the help of a Jets' skate) and he calmly finished on his backhand. The goal was determined to be unassisted but I thought Pastrnak should have gotten credit for his hard work, oh well. The Jets tied it at 5:26 of the second period on a one-timer by Mark Scheifele from Dustin Byfuglien. Matt Irwin did not have a good debut for the Bruins as he was stripped of the puck leading directly to Winnipeg's second goal by Blake Wheeler (his one-timer was assisted by Andrew Ladd) at 9:17. The Jets punctuated a strong frame with tic-tac-toe passing that ended with a goal by former Sabre Drew Stafford, assisted by Adam Lowry and Ben Chiarot at 17:39.

To Boston's credit they came out with some energy to start the third and were quickly rewarded as David Pastrnak scored on a sweet wrist shot that beat Pavelec up high from a tight angle. Matt Beleskey (his 1st point as a Bruin) and Kevan Miller had the helpers on what was the first of hopefully many goals by the young Czech winger. As fast as you could say we miss Johnny Boychuk, the Jets put it away with a pair of goals. Irwin got caught up ice leading to a 2-on-1 break for Winnipeg and Chris Thorburn's shot went in Boston's net off of Krejci's stick (similar to an own goal in soccer) at 5:17. If that wasn't ugly enough, rookie Nicolas Petan scored in his first career game when fellow rookie Andrew Copp's pass bounced in off the heel of his skate at 9:51. Burmistrov's empty-netter with 3:38 left in regulation sent the disappointed Bruins fans streaming for the exits.

Montreal kicked off its campaign with a 3-1 win at Toronto last night. They will be well rested and ready to go on Saturday against their bitter rivals that they have owned for the last couple years. If we're being positive, things can't get much worse for the Bruins than they were this evening. Then again, the Canadiens are expected to be one of if not the top team in the Eastern Conference yet again so it could very well be another blowout on Causeway Street on Saturday (7, NESN). Just in case, you better start drinking early this weekend to ease the possible pain.

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Bruins Hold Off Jets 2-1 In Shootout, Start 2-0 For The First Time In 11 Years

After the excitement of Opening Night against the Rangers wore off, the Bruins (2-0-0) lacked the jump & ruthless skill of that win but they still managed to find a way to beat the Jets (0-1-1) 2-1 in a shootout this afternoon at TD Garden.

Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron had the goals in the shootout and Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (2-0-0) made 26 saves plus two vital stops in the shootout to earn full two points.

Winnipeg actually scored 1:58 into the game as something called Chris Thorburn (1st of the season) followed a rebound from Paul Postma's shot from the point. Jim Slater had the other assist.

Brad Marchand (1st of the season) tied it at 14:12 off a spectacular feed from Tyler Seguin, who had stolen the puck in Winnipeg's zone then dished it to Marchand for an easy tap-in past Ondrej Pavelec (26 saves).

Both teams mostly sleepwalked through the rest of the contest, the B's somehow hit the post a whopping four times. It's hard to explain how a team could be so good on the penalty kill (9 for 9 this season) yet so awful on the power play (0 for 9) but that's the Bruins for you. Their penalty kill really bailed them out today, not allowing a goal even when Winnipeg had two power plays in overtime.

Besides Rask (who's given up two goals in 125 minutes), Dougie Hamilton has to be the biggest positive so far for Boston. With Dennis Seidenberg (lower body injury) out this afternoon, the rookie skated with Zdeno Chara and ended up with the second-most ice time on the team (23:27). Plus, the first line of Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Nathan Horton hasn't racked up the points yet but they've had tons of chances which is a good sign.

Boston is at New York's (0-2-0) Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night (7:30 p.m., NBCSN), a game which the Rangers desperately need after getting blown out (6-3) by Pittsburgh on their home ice Sunday night. An 0-3 start for an Eastern Conference heavyweight would be rough.

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