Don Sweeney: Bruins ‘Pleasantly Surprised’ By Lineup Tweak, Recent Play

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Boston has won five of its last six games, most recently adding a pair of statement victories against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals. They’ve scored 28 goals during that stretch.

A few things are correlated to this recent stretch. The Bruins had an extended holiday break due to COVID-19 outbreaks across the NHL, and right when they returned, they debuted David Pastrnak on the second line — splitting him off from the first. All the while, young players have been making the most out of their opportunity to play and Boston has benefited from secondary scoring.

Now, Boston is about to get Tuukka Rask back.

Answering questions about the one-year deal the veteran goalie signed Tuesday, general manager Don Sweeney shared his opinion about what’s been working so well for Boston.

“I think we’re all pleasantly surprised with the results and how we’ve gotten there in terms of the depth, and some of the line changes that Bruce and some of the players discussed have certainly worked and given us a boost,” Sweeney said via Zoom Tuesday.

“I think the goaltending has been strong for the last little while as I referenced a few months ago — that it was okay but it’s trending in the right direction — credit to them. Credit to the players themselves. It hasn’t been easy on any team, as well as ours. We had a player in one game find out eight minutes before we’re going out in the ice that he was eligible to play. So those are challenges, mentally and physically, and I think our team’s done a nice job of trying to get together and get on the same page.”

Now they will have to keep it rolling, starting Wednesday as Rask dresses for his first game of the season.

Boston and the Montreal Canadiens get going at 7 p.m. ET.