Round-Up of First Week

Although the Boston Bruins fell to the Montreal Canadiens in their preseason opener, we witnessed (for that matter, listened to) one heck of a hockey game. One would assume that is how this season series will go: a bounce of the puck and late scoring chances.

Regardless, the B's wasted little time getting back to the grind. They were in action both on Wednesday and Friday against the Washington Capitals.

The lineups looked vastly different from game one; we saw players like Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Dougie Hamilton, Brad Marchand, and Tuukka Rask make their debuts this week. With the turnover expected to come in the form of cuts, try not to make your head spin with all of the jersey numbers in flux. 

As for the games, you can tell that these two teams were playing preseason hockey. The pace was sluggish at times with no real emphasis to win hard battles.

Wednesday night went to the Bruins, as they scored two late goals to seal their first victory of the preseason. The captain (Big Z) netted the game winner on the power play, which is also encouraging to see this early. When it comes to Friday's game, this was the one to tune in for. The Caps won in overtime, but it was a see-saw affair with nine total goals scored. Seth Griffith netted a pair of goals for the Bruins, plus the fans were witnesses to two fights in the game. The youngsters are leaving it all on the ice for a chance to make their respective opening-night rosters. 

Preseason Game Two Box Score

Preseason Game Three Box Score

On Saturday night, the Black and Gold took on the Detroit Red Wings to close out this very busy opening week of preseason action. Milan Lucic made his preseason debut after his offseason wrist surgery. However, he spent a bulk of time in the penalty box due to three minor infractions. He may want to clean that up.

Other than that, the Bruins played a full 60 minutes against the Wings, but we should have expected nothing less from an "Original Six" matchup. Rask and Jeremy Smith had solid games in net while Ville Leino recorded his first goal as a Bruin that led to a 3-1 victory for Boston. 

Preseason Game Four Box Score

The Bruins will take their 2-1-1 preseason record back home to the TD Garden on Tuesday night when they skate against the New York Islanders.