The Boston Bruins kicked off their early-season three-game road trip in Colorado Wednesday night and came away with a 5-3 win over the struggling Avalanche. Boston improved to 3-2-0 and the Avs fell to 0-4-0, which is stunning. The Black and Gold seem to have avoid a major injury and that’s where we’ll begin this edition of Boston Bruins News.
Brad Marchand appears to have avoided a major injury
Bruins fans held their breath when captain Brad Marchand collided with Mikko Rantanen in the second period and exited the game. He missed the rest of the period and then part of the third, but returned to the bench and finished the game.
“Oh, Brad’s fine,’’ said Boston coach Jim Montgomery. “Just a spasm.’’
So far this season, Marchand has three assists after undergoing multiple surgeries in the offseason, but losing him to an injury would be a blow to the lineup for Montgomery. There is no replacing him and again, expect several more “maintenance days” this season in between games for Marchand.
Joonas Korpisalo picks up first win as a Bruin
It wasn’t always pretty, but a win is a win, right? One of the three pieces of the Linus Ullmark trade with the Ottawa Senators, Bruins fans saw the frustration Sens fans had last season when Joonas Korpisalo was statistically one of the worst goalies in the league. He allowed six goals in the season-opening 6-4 loss against the Florida Panthers.
After Jeremy Swayman played the next three games, Montgomery didn’t tip his hand ahead of the matchup with Colorado, but not surprisingly, he chose Korpisalo to make his second start. He made 20 saves and allowed three power play goals, but it could be used as a confidence builder for him going forward.
Former Bruins defenseman retires
One player that you may have forgotten who played for the Bruins in 2022-23 during their record-breaking season for wins and points was defenseman Anton Strålman. He only played in eight games finishing without a point, a plus/minus of minus-3 while averaging 15:22 a night.
Stralman has reportedly retired and is now coaching the Skultorps IF, a Swedish women's soccer team. Last season he played in 48 Swedish Hockey League (SHL) games with two goals and 14 assists or HV71.
NHL Veteran Sign PTO with Providence
Veteran NHL forward Tyler Pitlick was invited to attend training camp with the Providence Bruins and he signed a PTO to remain with the P-Bruins on Thursday. He had a goal and three assists last season in 34 games with the New York Rangers and just what this move means will be interesting to watch. Maybe it's nothing or maybe it's something down the line.