Boston couldn’t complete the comeback
The Boston Bruins officially kick off the 2025-26 season in a little over a week, but Monday night’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden served as an unofficial “dress rehearsal” for Marco Sturm’s club.
Jeremy Swayman and David Pastrnak made their preseason debuts, Hampus Lindholm played in his second straight game and Morgan Geekie continued to build on the success he had in the previous season.
Despite dropping to 2-1-1 in exhibition action, the Bruins showed plenty of positives against the Flyers.
Here are four takeaways from the Bruins’ loss:
The penalty kill was well — perfect
Yes, the Bruins did not allow a goal while shorthanded — including 4-on-3 during overtime while Geekie was in the penalty box for hooking at 3:03 of the extra frame.
Boston was more aggressive closing on the puck and did a better job of getting in the passing lanes — especially at the top of the crease.
Nikita Zadorov stood out on the penalty kill with 4:26 of his 24:55 on ice coming shorthanded. He finished with a team-leading three blocks, including two on the overtime penalty.
The Black and Gold held Philadelphia scoreless on four man-advantages.
Jeremy Swayman was solid despite the loss
Sure, Swayman wasn’t perfect, but the 26-year-old goaltender turned aside 20 of 22 shots he faced, including six on the penalty kill and five in overtime.
“It was not easy for (Swayman), I gotta say,” Sturm said postgame, per the team. “First of all, we’re in week two (of preseason) and he still didn’t play a game yet.
“First one is always the toughest one. In the third, he got better, especially in overtime, he got more comfortable. So he’s just gonna get better.”
In his first preseason action, Swayman had a couple of hiccups that the Flyers capitalized. He turned the puck over behind his own net when he fired a pass right to Philadelphia forward Bobby Brink, which led to a Noah Cates tally seconds later.
“I want to work on my puck-handling. I got too cute,” Swayman said after the loss, per team-provided video. “That’s the time to do it. Something to build on and grow from.”
On the Flyers second goal, Swayman was in position and saw the puck cleanly, but just couldn’t make the save on Rodrigo Abols’ wrist shot.
“I want to be a steady heartbeat of this team,” he added. “They expect greatness out of me every game, and I do myself. I just want to make sure I am a steady Eddie, not get too high, not get too low, get in front of the puck and be there for my team.”
The top line looks ready to go
Even with Pastrnak missing the first few days of training camp, the Bruins star showed no lingering effects of the knee tendinitis that kept him sidelined.
“I had so much fun out there, honestly. It’s been a long summer, so today was a perfect reminder of how much I love the game and enjoy it,” Pastrnak told reporters after the loss, per team-provided video. “When I feel like I did today, I know I can do a lot of things.”
Pastrnak finished his preseason debut with an assist, two shots, four hits while logging 19:35 of ice time.
Not to be overshadowed by Pastrnak’s strong game, his linemates combined for the tying goal in the third period.
Elias Lindholm stole the puck at the defensive blue line and sent Geekie in alone for the finish. It was Geekie’s second goal of the preseason.
Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy make an impact on the blue line
One of the questions surrounding the Bruins heading into the season was whether or not Hampus Lindholm would be able to bounce back from the season-ending fractured kneecap that he suffered last November.
The answer was apparent in Boston’s loss to the Flyers. He looked good — really, really good.
“It’s just so nice to have him,” Sturm said of Lindholm. “Can’t imagine (the team) without him. Not just on the ice, but off the ice, too. In the room, he’s a guy who likes to talk a lot and get involved in a lot of things, and wants to be the difference and wants to get better … So I was really happy that he’s healthy first of all, and he played both games very solid.”
His skating was superb, evident from the fact he was able to chase opposing players down and knock them off the puck, and he denied a few zone entries in just his second game returning from injury.
Having a healthy Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy on the blue line immediately impacted the transition game for the Bruins as well.
The pair not only skated strong up the ice, but their control of the puck through the neutral zone as well. Their breakouts were clean, anchored by Lindholm and McAvoy and the team defensively back checked and won possessions down.
Here are more tidbits from the Bruins’ loss to the Flyers:
— Sean Kuraly opened the scoring for Boston for his first tally since rejoining the team in the offseason. He tipped home a Pastrnak offering to beat former Bruins prospect Dan Vladar.
— While the Bruins were perfect on the penalty kill, their power play suffered an outage. Boston managed just four shots on two power play opportunities.
Marco Sturm rolled out the first unit of McAvoy up top, Pastrnak and Geekie on the flanks, Pavel Zacha down low and Elias Lindholm in the bumper position.
The second unit featured Hampus Lindholm as the lone defenseman paired with forwards Viktor Arvidsson, Casey Mittelstadt, Matthew Poitras and Matej Blumel.
— Boston has two exhibition games left before its regular season begins on Oct. 8 against the Washington Capitals.
The Bruins travel to Capital One Arena to face the Capitals on Thursday night and host the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.
More Bruins: Take a look back at Boston’s come-from-behind win over the Rangers
Troiani Rink Report 
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