Holy cannoli! The 25-26 Bruins hockey season is off to a bang, winning their first three games. Over the course of the start of the season, the Bruins have both created a losing streak and broken it. The Bruins' current record is 4-6-0, which will hopefully start improving quickly.
A very nice change of pace for the team is the large improvement in goal scoring. Towards the end of last season, the team’s puck-handling skills were not where they needed to be. Almost every game so far this season, the Bruins have scored at least three goals. Along with that, our two goalies, Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo, have also been doing very well, blocking incredible shots and having several “saves of the game”.
Last season, the team desperately needed work on goaltending towards the end of the season. Swayman stated that he wants to do better this season, and so far, he has. Swayman has also started being more protective of the goal itself, so it seems. He is starting to be more willing to be aggressive with other players on the team to help protect the goal and stop their scoring.
While Korpisalo has always done this, he's faster, and his reflexes have also gotten faster. Both Swayman and Korpisalo have been solid goalies for the team since they joined, and hopefully, they can keep it up through the coming seasons.
Mason Lohrei's growing pains early in 2025-26
Although most people may see the team’s loss as the goalies' fault, it’s the defense's fault. The team can’t solely rely on the goalies to save the game. The defenseman needs to step up and focus on assisting their goalies, which is their job. Mason Lohrei is slipping back into his old play routine of completing turnovers in front of the goal.
Marco Sturm brought up this topic after a game recently: “Those two goals, yeah, can’t deny those are on him... we have to try to correct it and try to help him and try to make sure he is not going to do it again, that’s for sure.” With Hampus Lindholm on the injury list yet again, the defense lines will change. Marco has to very quickly find a way to build solid defense lines before it gets later into the season otherwise, making the playoffs this year will be looking bleak.
With the hockey season back in full swing, and other teams improving strongly, our team will need to step it up in defense. The team's goal scoring and aggression are improving; hopefully, defense will improve as well, so the Bruins can continue to have the reputation of the Big, Bad Bruins!