After winning two out of three games at home against the Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings in overtime, and a disappointing loss to the Florida Panthers, the Boston Bruins now face a three-game road trip. It won’t be an easy one either.
The three-game, six-day trip begins Wednesday night and even though we’re just a week into the season, this is a rather big trip. Boston will be facing two teams with Stanley Cup aspirations and a new team that has started the season playing some good hockey.
Bruins face difficult three-game road trip
This will be tough for the Black and Gold for several reasons. The first stop is against the Colorado Avalanche, a team that is currently 0-3-0 with two home losses to the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders. This is a team that is much better than their record indicates and is a tough trip opener.
On Saturday night, the Bruins will get their first look at the new-look Utah Hockey Club, which is going in the opposite direction of the Avs early in the season sitting at 3-1-0 with an impressive road win over the New York Rangers this past weekend.
Next Tuesday night, the trip ends in Nashville against the Predators, a team that is hoping to take the next step in 2024-25. Playing at Nashville has never been easy for the Black and Gold and after six days on the road is not an ideal matchup for Jim Montgomery’s team.
If the Bruins are going to have a successful road trip, then there are a lot of areas they need to clean up. Turning the puck over has been an issue, taking at least four minor penalties each game through the first four has been an issue, and the power play is struggling big time. Having success in most of those areas is a must over the next week.
Montgomery was not happy with his top-six forwards following the 4-3 loss to the Panthers on Monday afternoon at the TD Garden and made it clear after the game. Generally, the third-year coach has had success calling out players through the media and he is hoping he will again. Production from the top six is a must, something they are not getting much of right now.