Bruins Notes: Boston Opponents Improving Effort, ‘Intensity’

The Bruins were probably already well aware, but if they weren’t it became abundantly clear that teams aren’t going to just roll over because “Boston” is written on their schedule.

It was especially clear Saturday night.

Boston dropped its first regulation game of the season Saturday, falling to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena despite holding a lead entering the third period. It was a stark departure from the way previous games have gone for the Bruins, which highlighted a point B’s head coach Jim Montgomery has continuously made to his team over the past two seasons.

“I thought Detroit was really good on the power play,” Montgomery said, as seen on NESN. “They were zipping the puck, they were one-touching it. … This league gets better every ten games, and we’re at the start of the second segment. The intensity was significantly up from what we saw previously.”

Here are more notes from Saturday night’s matchup between the Bruins and Red Wings:

— Boston blew a pair of leads in the second and third periods. It’s the first time this season they’ve blown two leads in a single game.

— Brandon Carlo has been especially superb since Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort and Charlie McAvoy departed the lineup, but that’s nothing new in relation to the rest of the season.

There’s a case to be made that he’s the Bruins’ MVP.

— The Bruins’ roadie continues Monday when they travel down to Texas to take on the Dallas Stars. They’ll drop the puck from American Airlines Center at 8 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.