#boston-bruins

#boston-bruins

Don't get me wrong. It would be wise to hold back a piece of your heart before throwing it all on the bandwagon. Every game in this current seven-game win streak that has them at 11-7 has been a battle - even Tuesday's 5-3 win over Toronto when the Maple Leafs looked disinterested to start and then lost Auston Matthews in the middle of the game. Three of their seven wins have gone to extra time.

"I remember how strong the Bruins alumni was and how I was instantly accepted by them...Wayne Cashman, we still talk weekly...but there was no one bigger in my time with the Bruins than Johnny Bucyk...to the people of Boston, you were so good to me. Thank you." - Jumbo Joe pic.twitter.com/shvWYbL1I7- Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 11, 2025

"No, not at all," Bergeron said in reply. "I feel like it's almost like I don't consider myself a part of that group. I think it's hard for me to believe that," he said of his own candidacy. "But also at the same time, I'm obviously here to support [Zdeno], but also [Duncan Keith] and [Joe] for their amazing careers. I'm just happy to be a part of this night."

You can watch the Toronto Maple Leafs with reverent attention, and it may still not be enough to figure out how this team operates. It appeared that the Maple Leafs were turning the corner, boasting the best 5-on-5 offence in the NHL. Saturday evening presented a winnable game against a divisional rival, but the Maple Leafs fell short in a 5-3 loss to an undermanned Boston Bruins side.

"It was fun. Those two guys are great players. It's pretty easy to play with them. It's easy to mix and match the lines on this team so I feel like anybody can play with anybody," said Kastelic after Monday's practice Warrior Ice Arena. "Early on, we just kind of clicked. We were all on the same page. We had a great game in my opinion. We controlled the play. I think we were in their zone more than they were in ours so that's a win for us. Hopefully we just continue to do that."

For the first time in his Bruins career, Joonas Korpisalo received the starting nod in back-to-back games earlier this week against the Islanders and Sabres. Marco Sturm's decision to alter Boston's goalie rotation came after a road bout on Monday where Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins were shredded by Ottawa, 7-2. While Boston's head coach downplayed discourse over Korpisalo's increased reps, the timing was worth noting after Swayman labored on the road in a lopsided loss.

But a funny thing has happened. Mittelstadt has pushed back with some very good play, and in all three zones with his vastly improving second line with Pavel Zacha and Viktor Arvidsson. And on Saturday at the Garden, he earned third star honors by scoring a goal and assisting on Arvidsson's game-winner in the Bruins' 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

"I think we all should feel embarrassed by what happened yesterday," Sturm said before facing the Islanders. "I'm not going to sit here and just move on through the next one. I'm a competitor; my guys in my room are very competitive. We all take a lot of pride in games like that. We just want to be better and show a response today."

The Bruins may not be a great hockey team. We still don't know if they're even very good at all. But they can be an entertaining, if unconventional, watch right now. The B's, outshot 40-23 and held in the game by Joonas Korpisalo, coughed up a two-goal third period lead but pulled it out in overtime, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Marat Khusnutdinov's OT goal, his first tally of the season.

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We are about to discover a lot more about just who these Bruins are. The B's will begin a short but, likely, telling three-game road Thursday night in Las Vegas against a Golden Knights team that many see as poised to break the Edmonton Oilers' two-year run to the Stanley Cup Final. And if the Golden Knights can't do it, the B's opponent Saturday night, the Colorado Avalanche, have a good shot at it.