After scoring seven goals in their first two games, the Boston Bruins offense has gotten quiet. Given how the roster is constructed, not many people should be surprised. In their last two games, 4-1 losses to the Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators, they have struggled to generate shots, never mind goals.
Despite being four games into the season, desperate times call for desperate measures. After a day off on Tuesday and following their loss to the Senators, the Black and Gold returned to practice on Wednesday at Warrior Ice Arena in preparation for a game against the Utah Mammoth on Thursday night at home. There were some new line combinations by the Bruins that were going to begin the game. One of the lines is an interesting one, and head coach Marco Sturm explained what he's looking for from it.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm explains new lines against Mammoth
One line that is being put together against Utah is a line of Marat Khusnutdinov, Fraser Minten, and JJ Peterka, who will be going up against the old club that shipped him to the Black and Gold in June for two first-round draft picks. According to Jack Studley of Boston Hockey Now, Sturm explained why he put this trio together.
“We need offense, right? A little bit,'' said Sturm. "We had some chances to put it in. You know, try to get some guys going. He’s (Peterka) been pretty good. So we want to give him a shot maybe with Fraser and Khus, get him a little bit more offense as well. So we’ll try that and hopefully he can produce.”
Yes, Marco, you need some offense. It hasn't been easy to come by. Tanner Jeannot opened the scoring against the Wild on Saturday night with a first-period goal. Boston then went four straight periods without a goal until James Hagens banked in a centering pass from behind the Senators' net in the third period of Monday night's loss.
It's not like the Bruins created many "high-danger" scoring chances over those four periods. During the game, Sturm moved his lines around, and some were eye-opening. It appears that he'll begin the game reuniting Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha, and David Pastrnak. That is a line that has no goals so far in 2026-27, and Sturm is hoping to get them going by bringing them back together.
These moves are desperate, but early in the season, it is understandable as to why Sturm is doing it. Not only do the Bruins need to get more even-strength goals, but they also need to get the power play going. We'll see what the returns are by late Thursday night.
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