Hockey is officially back on Causeway as the Boston Bruins hosted the Washington Capitals at TD Garden in the club’s preseason opener Sunday night.
Washington capitalized on several of Boston’s errant passes and self-inflicted miscues, especially in the opening frame, and defeated the Bruins, 5-2.
Morgan Geekie got the B’s on the board first, but the Capitals exploded for four consecutive goals, taking a commanding 4-1 lead into the first intermission.
“Listen, do we like the ending? No, of course not,” Bruins head coach Marco Sturm told reporters after the game, per team-provided video. “But, I also have been there a lot of times, having that preseason, first game at home, lots of excitement. Lots of kids fighting for a spot, or some players (fighting for a spot), and lots of information in the last three days. We went through a lot.
“Everything was … I’m not saying it was new, but just, it was a different voice, I guess. So, I don’t blame my players. They work hard. We were just not smart enough. And that’s why we were down right away.”
Despite falling behind so quickly, the mistakes give Sturm areas to focus on as training camp continues on Monday.
“I’m glad it happened because now it’s gonna give us something, or especially me, it’s gonna give me something to work with,” he said. “And I know exactly the areas we just have to be better.”
Here are more notes from Sunday’s preseason tilt:
— The lineup featured Charlie McAvoy, Mason Lohrei, Nikita Zadorov, Andrew Peeke, Victor Soderstrom and Frederic Brunet on defense; Geekie, Elias Lindholm, Viktor Arvidsson, Matt Poitras, Fabian Lysell, Matěj Blümel, Alex Steeves, Fraser Minten, Tanner Jeannot, Patrick Brown, Jeffrey Viel and Riley Duran up front with Michael DiPietro and Simon Zajicek in net.
Brown tallied the other goal for Boston. Duran had the primary assist on Brown’s tally with Viel recording the secondary helper. Lindholm had the lone assist on Geekie’s first-period score.
— DiPietro got the start in net and gave up five goals on 21 shots across 28:14 of even-strength play. While the 26-year-old netminder didn’t get much help in front of him, taking one or two goals off the board would have made his performance standout among the mistakes.
Zajicek stopped all six shots he faced in the second half of the game.
— The power play went scoreless on three opportunities.
With Boston’s most prolific goal-scorer, David Pastrnak, out of the lineup, Sturm rolled out Charlie McAvoy, Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie, Matej Blumel and Viktor Arvidsson on the first unit. The second unit had Mason Lohrei and Alex Steeves working the blueline behind a trio of Matt Poitras, Fraser Minten and Fabian Lysell.
“We didn’t practice it all,” Sturm said. “We talked about it before the game a little bit, just the breakouts, or foundation on the breakouts, and the end boards a little bit. And that was it … most of the time we had some O-zone time. Can we be better? Yes. Absolutely.”
— The Bruins travel to the Big Apple on Tuesday to take on the New York Rangers. Puck drop from Madison Square Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
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