After winning back-to-back games against the Detroit Red Wings and Florida Panthers, the Boston Bruins looked to win their third straight game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 2. They did just that, defeating one of their biggest Original Six rivals in the shootout by a 3-2 final score. It was a very strong game for both clubs, but in the end, the Bruins got the two points. Let’s discuss three main takeaways from the contest now.
Lohrei’s Excellent Debut
Due to Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk, and Derek Forbort all being out, the Bruins were forced to call up three defensemen, and Mason Lohrei was the most notable. This is because the 22-year-old is the Bruins’ top prospect on defense, and many believe that he has the tools to one day emerge into a top-four defenseman. In his debut against the Maple Leafs, he showed great promise, as he had an excellent game.
Lohrei notably got on the scoresheet against the Maple Leafs, as he recorded the secondary assist on Pavel Zacha’s game-opening goal. Naturally, Lohrei getting his first NHL point was the highlight of his performance, but he did far more than that. He was extremely confident with the puck, created chances with his great passing and stickhandling, and made some strong defensive plays. Due to this, he did not look out of place at all in his first NHL regular-season game.
Following the game, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said Lohrei was “dynamite” in his debut. That’s some high praise from the Bruins’ bench boss, but it surely was justifiable. If Lohrei keeps playing this well from here, he could very well stick around even when the Bruins get their full defense back.
Swayman Dominant Again
Jeremy Swayman has had a marvelous start to the 2023-24 season, and that carried over to this one against the Maple Leafs. The Alaska native is a major reason why this game ended up going to the shootout, as he saved 33 out of 35 shots. The Maple Leafs and their big-time star forwards kept Swayman busy in this one, but he responded with one of his best performances of the young season.
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The one rough part of the night for Swayman was when he allowed back-to-back goals to Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews one minute apart from each other. Yet, the blame cannot be placed on him, as the Maple Leafs carried immense momentum at that point of the game, and Swayman made several huge stops during it. With that, he responded with perfection following the two goals.
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This was an outstanding goalie duel between Swayman and Ilya Samsonov, as both netminders faced a plethora of high-danger chances. However, in the end, Swayman got the W due to his splendid play during the shootout. With this win, he now has a perfect 5-0-0 record, a 1.38 goals-against average, and a .954 save percentage.
DeBrusk Breaks the Ice
It is not a secret that Jake DeBrusk has had a bit of a rough start to the 2023-24 season. Besides his infamous healthy scratch for being late to a team meeting, the 2015 first-round was also still looking for his first goal of the season heading into this contest. However, he finally broke the ice against the Maple Leafs, as he potted home a Brad Marchand rebound to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
DeBrusk had shown signs of improvement over the previous few games before this one, so there was a feeling that this goal was coming. With this goal, DeBrusk now has four points in nine games. Although this kind of production is low for him, he also has three points in his last five games, so he is heading in the right direction. We should expect to see more strong performances like this one from him from here.
Nevertheless, this was a great win for the Bruins against a hungry and talented Maple Leafs team. The Bruins will now look keep their winning streak going against the Red Wings on Nov. 4 in another much-anticipated Original Six matchup.