Recap: Solid all-around effort helps the Bruins get back on track

Now we can all officially move on from the first game!

It’s hard to call the second game of the season a must-win, but this one was about as close as one can be.

Fortunately, the Bruins responded to the calls for a better effort and collected their first win of the season, a satisfying 4-0 triumph over the Buffalo Sabres.

While he didn’t end up putting one in the net himself, Brad Marchand led the way for the Bruins, notching four assists. Jaroslav Halak was solid in net, making 32 saves for the shutout. He was hardly under siege tonight, but made the saves when called upon.

Some notes on tonight’s game:

• Prepare the hot take columns! Halak was good tonight, making a couple big saves here and there, but largely benefiting from a much, much better team defense in front of him. Still, you can only save what gets sent your way, right? And Halak saved all of them. It’s far too early to create a goalie controversy (though that won’t stop some people), but it’ll be interesting to see if Bruce Cassidy goes back to Halak Monday.
• Speaking of Cassidy, he rolled the dice a bit with his line juggling, and it paid off for the most part. The new bottom six wasn’t involved in any of the scoring, but looked a lot more effective than the lines iced last night. Much of that probably has to do with the opponent, but still. I’m not sure any guy on that line did enough to prevent the 13th forward from continuing to rotate in, but we’ll see.
• Anders Bjork was the “rotating in” guy tonight, and he wasn’t terribly effective. Bjork only skated 11:34 on the night, lowest on the Bruins and second-lowest of anyone in the game. He made a nice play in the first period on one of his first shifts, but wasn’t noticeable after that. It’ll come with time.
• David Krejci has looked sharp in the first two games. Obviously “sharp” is relative when it comes to the first debacle, but Krejci looks to have decent jump in his skates and is making great passes. He and Jake DeBrusk continue to have great chemistry, and Ryan Donato slotted in just fine tonight.
• The Bruins appeared to dodge a bullet late in the second, as Charlie McAvoy blocked a slapshot with the inside of his skate. He hit the deck and headed to the locker room early, but ultimately returned in the third.
• Good to see the power play get on the board tonight. The Bruins’ PP was a serious weapon last year, but couldn’t get the team back in the game Wednesday night. Tonight, Donato’s goal was the result of some picture-perfect passing by the special teams unit.
• Marchand has had an.......active first two games, eh? All over the HOT TAEK™ radar after Wednesday night, then all over the scoresheet tonight.

The B’s are back at it on Monday, in an afternoon home opener against Ottawa. Catch the fever!