*Photo from MassLive*
On opening night at the TD Garden, the stage was set for some of the stars in Boston to deliver. Brad Marchand scored twice, Jake Debrusk scored, and the Boston Bruins defeated the Dallas Stars by a 3-1 score on Saturday night, kicking off their season with a win.
The goal scored by Debrusk will hopefully, for his and the Bruins benefit, be a launching pad into a redemption season. Last season was not good for Debrusk, dealing with the isolation required by the Covid-19 Pandemic, being limited to just 5 goals and 9 assists last season. The fact that he started off this season with a goal is hopefully a sign of good things to come.
Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said postgame that "Tonight, Debrusk should feel good about his game. He did a good job of simply playing behind Dallas's defense, winning the foot race, creating that second effort play to create a turnover, and then the puck ends up on his stick in the slot."
With 2:22 remaining in the first period, Marchand got the Bruins on the board, giving them their first goal of the season and a 1-0 lead on a penalty shot goal. 9:15 into the second, Luke Glendening gave the response Dallas wanted, with his first goal of the season tying things up 1-1, remaining until the end of the period.
4:43 into the 3rd period, Debrusk provided another answer for Boston, scoring from the slot to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead on his first tally of the season. With 1:37 remaining in the game, Marchand found an empty net and converted on it, giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead and effectively sealing the game.
Instead of veteran goalie Linus Ullmark, Cassidy gave the opening night start to rookie Jeremy Swayman. He did not disappoint, with the Alaska native saving 27 of 28 shots the Stars sent his way, improving to 1-0-0 this season with a sterling .964 save percentage. In the first period, he did not face a single shot on goal until about 16 minutes into the period.
Cassidy said of Swayman's performance on opening night that "Swayman was good. He had a little less work than Holtby, I thought, and he responded really well. Good for him. He's done it for us almost every time he's played. So it's almost like we're coming to expect that, and that's a good thing."
On the other side, Braden Holtby started for the Stars, and got hit with the loss while facing a heavy shot volume. Holtby saved 37 of 39 shots he saw from the Bruins offensive attack, posting a .949 save percentage. He did well, so it's safe to say he was not responsible for the Stars loss.
Dallas defenseman Ryan Suter said "We knew they were going to come hard, and they just kept coming. We didn't have an answer. It was hard for us to make plays coming out of our end. By the time we got the puck out to the neutral zone, guys were tired and trying to get off the ice. It's a tough way to play."
The Stars get right back into action Sunday afternoon against the Ottawa Senators, with Anton Khudobin expected to get the start. The Bruins don't play again until Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers, with Ullmark expected to start in goal.
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