When Marat Khusnutdinov broke training camp with the Boston Bruins, little did head coach Marco Sturm or any fans know just how important he would be early in the 2025-26 season.
Looking to find some offense, Boston's first-year coach moved lines around. When center Elias Lindholm went down with an injury last Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres, Khusnutdinov became a staple on the top line. The Bruins' top-line pivot is expected to be out week-to-week, and so far, the speedy Khusnutdinov is making his presence felt alongside David Pastrnak.
Down 3-2 late in the third period, the Black and Gold were supplying pressure on the New York Islanders, and a grinding shift led to the game-tying goal. Khusnutdinov crashed the net from the corner and was able to sneak a rebound home past Ilya Sorokin to even the score.
9️⃣2️⃣ KNOTS IT UP ‼️ pic.twitter.com/AxUJ9mpIb1
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 5, 2025
The game eventually went to overtime and a shootout after a wild end to regulation and a crazy back-and-forth overtime. Playing in their first shootout, the coaching staff made a decision that came as a surprise to Khusnutdinov.
Marat Khusnutdinov has a funny response to Bruins coaching staff's shootout decision
When it got to the shootout, the Bruins coaching staff decided to go with Casey Mittlestadt first, and he was stopped by Sorokin. Next up was Khusnutdinov, which came as a surprise to him, and he responded with a funny reaction to his head coach.
“He was actually pretty funny,” Sturm said of Khusnutdinov’s reaction to being picked for the shootout. “He looked at me, he's like, ‘Me?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘OK.’”
MARAT MAKING IT HAPPEN 💪 pic.twitter.com/anXPPNk2Cl
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 5, 2025
Acquired from the Minnesota Wild at the trade deadline back in March in a deal that sent Justin Brazeau back to the Wild, Khusnutdinov moved in on Sorokin and calmly scored with a wrist shot under the crossbar for what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the 4-3 victory, the fourth straight for Boston.
The decision to use Khusnutdinov in the shootout should be a confidence builder for the young player. It capped off a win that saw the Bruins rally from three one-goal deficits to a key win early in November.