The Boston Bruins began their 2022-2023 season with a lot of questions surrounding the team. During the offseason, fans were nervous about the future of the team. Patrice Bergeron was contemplating retirement, David Krejci was thinking about making a return to the team after retiring the previous year to play in his home country of Czechoslovakia, and Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelcyk were all going to miss games at the start of the year due to injury. 

On June 6th, 2022, fans and the league were shocked when Bruins General Manager, Don Sweeney, announced the team had decided to fire Head Coach Bruce Cassidy. This was a controversial decision as Cassidy had led the team to the playoffs in all 6 seasons that he was the head coach, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019. Fans were now even more nervous about the future of their beloved Boston Bruins. 

However, the nerves quickly turned into excitement when Patrice Bergeron announced that he was returning for another year and David Krejci also announced he was going to make a return to the team. On July 1, 2022, the team announced that they were hiring Jim Montgomery, former University of Denver and Dallas Stars head coach, as Cassidy’s replacement. Montgomery brings a more offensive mentality to a team that was criticized for their ability to score goals last season. 

The Boston Bruins began their quest for the cup on October 12, 2022, with a convincing 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals. Fans saw the long awaited return of the Czech duo of David Pastrnak and David Krejci. Pastrnak netted 4 points in the game including 1 goal and 3 assists and Krejci netted a goal and 2 assists, leading the Bruins to their first win of the campaign and Jim Montgomery’s first win as head coach. 

The Bruins quickly picked up two more wins in their first home games of the season, including a 6-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes and a 5-3 win against last season’s President’s Trophy winners the Florida Panthers. The Bruins then picked up their first loss of the season in a 7-5 thriller to the Ottawa Senators. Since that game the Bruins have remained undefeated. 

The team has also seen the return of two key players, Matt Grzelcyk and Brad Marchand. Starting Goaltender, Linus Ullmark, has been sensational to start the year posting a 2.19 GAA and a .932 save percentage along with a perfect 7-0 record. David Pastrnak has been the star for the Bruins so far this season with 7 goals and 11 assists in 10 games. Pastrnak was named the second star of the NHL for the month of October behind only the remarkable Connor McDavid. 

Last night the Bruins won against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 6-5 game which had every hockey fan on the edge of their seat. The Penguins jumped to an early 1-0 off a goal from team captain Sidney Crosby. The Bruins scored two goals in the first to take a 2-1 lead, including Jacob Lauko’s first NHL goal off a sweet pass from Nick Folingo. 

In the second period the Penguins scored 4 quick goals to take a 5-2 lead. Late in the period, Marchand scored a power play goal to bring the Bruins within 2 goals heading into the third period. Pavel Zacha started the third period comeback scoring with 8:01 to play in the game. Taylor Hall scored the game tying goal with 1:17 left in regulation to send the game to overtime. 

Hampus Lindholm scored the game winner at 3:37 of overtime to give the Bruins their 9th win of the season. At the end of the game head coach Jim Montgomery said “ I just love the fight in this team. It’s incredible, they believe in there.” 

The Boston Bruins have started the season better than anyone could have hoped for with a 9-1 record and the most goals forward in the entire league. Bruins fans have a right to be truly excited about this team and its future.