Charles Krupa/AP PHOTO
BOSTON- After back-to-back frustrating performances and a quiet power play that generated nothing across four games, the Boston Bruins needed a spark. They got it at TD Garden, breaking out in an offensive explosion to defeat the Utah Mammoth 6-1.
Head coach Marco Sturm made sweeping adjustments heading into Thursday night, altering line combinations and retooling the power play following an ugly loss to the Ottawa Senators.
The changes paid immediate dividends as Boston connected on three power-play goals, with David Pastrnak burying two man-advantage markers and Morgan Geekie adding another. Defenseman Mason Lohrei scored his first of the season, and Matthew Poitras capitalized on a clean 2-on-1 rush set up by Pastrnak to polish off the 6-1 result.
Beyond the scoring rush, Boston’s penalty kill proved vital by shutting down all seven Utah power-play attempts despite an undisciplined second period.
Reflecting on the line shuffle that raised some eyebrows earlier in the week, Sturm addressed the media postgame:
“I could see it in you guys’ eyes yesterday. You probably thought, ‘What is he doing?’ Right? I’m not dumb.”
Sturm also praised the preparation done behind the scenes to stifle Utah’s dangerous special teams unit:
“We were good, prepared. I thought Matt (McIlvane) did a good job there on the pre-scout. We took away the, especially on the top units, their special players and their weapons where they scored most of their goals from. So we did a good job.”
Pastrnak, who netted two goals and an assist to set the tone, emphasized the squad’s mentality and shared accountability:
“Yeah, it’s different. But at the same time, if you look at the big picture, it’s the same. It’s always the leadership in this organization is not one guy; it’s been always a group decision, a group of leaders. Maybe from the outside it looked like it was ‘Zee’ and ‘Bergy’ and them, but they leaned on everybody. I think the best groups tend to be the ones that you get it everywhere. You take a lot of that weight off your shoulders and you can put it on everybody else. The group’s better for it.”
Pastrnak also noted the internal drive carrying the club forward early in the campaign:
“So, I think being underdogs this year, being a team that nobody is putting anywhere even close to where we should be, so it’s putting an extra chip on our shoulders for sure. The expectation is always the same here. You play for an Original Six; they are very high and they will always be here. So, whoever is going to dress up in October, it’s going to be a competitive team and that’s the one message we’re going to have. We won’t accept what happened last year.”
With the offensive floodgates open and special teams clicking on both ends of the ice, the Bruins move forward with renewed confidence as they continue their home stand at TD Garden on Saturday against the Flyers. Puck drops at 1 pm.
