Raise your hand if you had the Boston Bruins sitting in first place in the Atlantic Division on Nov. 5, heading into one of two road games in the month against the Pittsburgh Penguins? I didn't think so.
However, that's where they are after a hot start to the season in October, which included a four-game West Coast road trip that saw them collect seven out of a possible eight points in wins over the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, and Los Angeles Kings, while they closed the trip with an overtime loss to the Dallas Stars.
November is a huge month for second-year head coach Marco Sturm as nine of their 11 games are at home. They won the first one, 3-2, in a shootout against the Vegas Golden Knights. Sara Civian of Bleacher Report didn't mince words about the Black and Gold's first month of the season.
"Whether you saw them coming this year or not, they are sitting firmly atop the Atlantic with their 11-4-1 record and plus-20 goal differential, and the full team keeps passing the necessary tests. Captain David Pastrňák has eight goals and 20 points in 16 games, rookie James Hagens put together a Calder Trophy-worthy first month, and both Jeremy Swayman and Michael DiPietro look fantastic in net,'' wrote Civian.
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As Civian pointed out, there are a handful of reasons as to why the Bruins are in the position they are in to begin the season. Is it sustainable? That is one of the bigger questions that a lot of people around the league have. Can Boston do this over an 84-game schedule?
That's going to be hard to do, but make no mistake about it, Jeremy Swayman and Michael DiPietro have been better than some thought between the pipes this season. Maybe just as big has been the emergence of James Hagens, Matthew Poitras and Fraser Minten, who is on pace to have a better season stats-wise than he did in his breakout 2025-26 season.
Hagens doesn't care about winning the Calder Trophy, and do you think Swayman is going to keep tabs all season long on the race for the Vezina Trophy? Unlikely, but if Boston is going to survive the deep Atlantic Division this season and be one of the top 8 teams in the conference when all is said and done, both will have to contribute, as they have in the first month of the season.
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