Bruins Notes: Boston Starts ‘Work In Progress’ With First Win

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins began their season the right way with a 3-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night to start the season at TD Garden.

On the surface, the team played well in plenty of areas. Aggressive play on offense led to scoring chances and Linus Ullmark had a quality night with 20 saves in goal for Boston. Without the faceoff duties of retired Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, Boston still had a 34-20 advantage.

The season is in its earliest stages, however, with plenty of room for improvement in what the Boston bench boss Jim Montgomery labeled a “very average” performance.

“We grew our game, but it’s our first game of the year,” Montgomery told reporters after the win. “I think back to our first game last year. … We played faster. I didn’t think we played fast enough, consistently enough.”

Additionally, Boston will look back on the power play unit, which could not score a goal on three chances. New personnel will continue to work towards a rhythm that fits in the coming games.

“I think the power play every year is a work in progress,” Montgomery explained. “Even if you had years where the same guys come back, it makes it easier, but there’s a rhythm they’ve got to get into. That takes time.”

Despite the areas of correction in the coming days for the Bruins, Montgomery recognizes that early season issues always come around and give the team room to adjust.

“You expect there’s going to be things,” Montgomery said. “There’s a lot of things to work on. You expect that in Game 1. We got the result. We did a lot of good things, I thought, in the third period to build our game.”

Boston has improvements to make, but starting the season with a win goes a long way.

Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Blackhawks-Bruins game:

— In their return to TD Garden, former Bruins Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall finished even in plus-minus in a combined 23 minutes on the ice for Chicago.

— Chicago’s Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, scored his first career goal on a wrap-around during the first period.

— In his first game as the captain of the Bruins, Brad Marchand marked down an assist in 18:09 on the ice in the victory.

— The Bruins went 0-for-3 on the power play while killing all three penalties in the season opener.

— Matthew Poitras made his NHL debut after fighting his way onto the roster. The 19-year-old tallied an assist in 14:50 on the ice.

— David Pastrnak scored a goal in the season opener for the second straight season.

–The Bruins return to action on Saturday to host the Nashville Predators at TD Garden. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET. You can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.