#boston-bruins

#boston-bruins

After the Bruins drafted James Hagens seventh overall, speculation began to swirl that he could play alongside Zellers at this year's IIHF World Junior Championships. Given Zellers' strong start at the University of North Dakota, where he has tallied 15 points in 18 games, and Hagens' equally-as-strong showing at Boston College, this theory has come to fruition in the last week or so at the World Juniors.

The U.S. trailed 2-0 in the first period and then 4-3 late in the second period before Hagens tied the score in the final minute of the frame. Team USA built on that momentum when Hagens scored just 18 seconds into the third period. It was the United States' first lead of the game. The Americans doubled their advantage a few minutes later when Will Zellers scored a power-play goal. It ended up being the game-winning tally after Slovakia scored to make it 6-5 later in the period. The U.S. held on for a 6-5 victory to improve to 3-0-0 in the preliminary round of the tournament.

Jonathan Aspirot, who has been out of the lineup since Dec. 11 with an upper body injury, was on a second pairing with Hampus Lindholm in the B's morning skate at the Saddledome as the struggling Andrew Peeke moved down to a third pairing with Mason Lohrei. The top pair of Nikita Zadorov-Charlie McAvoy remained intact. Coach Marco Sturm termed Aspirot a game-time decision.

Unfortunately, things happened here this morning at the airport and guys haven't really skated for four days almost and haven't even had a workout. Hopefully we'll go through this game without injury. We're asking a lot from the guys to come in and be ready to play but it's not going to be easy, so we've got to make sure we're going to be careful. We're going to prepare them like we always do. We're not just coming here because it was on our schedule. We want to leave here with two points. Mentally it's going to be a little bit of a challenge.

This year has been one of tumult for the Boston Bruins. Just two years after finishing with a record 65 wins, the organizational tear-down began in March. So far at least, that turnover has not translated into the doom cycle that many had expected as the B's have somehow remained competitive while waiting for some of their higher end prospects to arrive.

For the Boston Bruins to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2026 after finishing with the NHL's fifth-worst record last season, they needed Jeremy Swayman to have a bounce-back campaign. And Swayman has actually played quite well through the first 37 games of the season. He has a 14-9-1 record with a .906 save percentage and a 2.78 GAA. Those stats don't jump off the page, but context is important:

The Bruins were feeling very good about themselves just a week and a half ago. Today, with the archrival Montreal Canadiens in town for the final game before the Christmas break, they are in soul-searching mode. Such is life in the standings tighter than skinny jeans Hoping to bank points on their five-game homestand, they are just 1-2-1, with three straight losses. And the last L left a mark.

"Yeah, I took a loss on it," said Frederic with a laugh. "Giving back to the community."

The B's are feeling good about themselves, and they have legitimate reasons for that. They managed to weather what some would have thought to be an apocalyptic combination of injuries to both Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak, keeping their heads just above the water line until their two stars returned last week. Now they're riding a four-game win streak that has put them firmly in the playoff hunt.

"I think the adversity helped us early on."

For the Boston Bruins, it's sunshine and bear attacks. For the Tampa Bay Lightning, it's weather patterns and pirates. On Feb. 1, 2026 at Raymond James Stadium -- home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- it's two more jerseys in the tradition of the NHL Stadium Series' bold design choices. "They really capture what the Stadium Series is about: Taking chances, leaning in, designing toward the future of the game and having fun doing it," said Dom Fillion, creative director for Fanatics. The Bruins are playing in their sixth NHL outdoor game, while the Lightning are playing in their second.

That's what good teams do. They don't complain. They just work.

I didn't have any plans going back home over that summer but then as the season got closer, I played with that thought a little bit and just ended up signing there a week before the season started. It was good for me. I got back to my game a lot more to the way I want to play. Now afterwards, I don't regret anything. I think that was a good decision for me.