Bruins Notes: Down Core Players, Boston Makes Huge Statement Win

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins battled their division rival Toronto Maple Leafs to a statement shootout win despite missing three core defensemen from their lineup.

Mason Lohrei made his NHL debut for the Bruins and logged 21:28 minutes of ice time, including 1:43 on the penalty kill and registered his first career point when he had the secondary assist on Pavel Zacha’s first-period goal.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery showed confidence in the 22-year-old by putting him out on the ice for situational matchups against a tough Leafs offense.

“He played really well,” Montgomery said. “His poise with the puck in all three zones was very noticeable. He made a lot of intelligent hockey plays.”

With a plethora of new players in the lineup, Montgomery was pleased with the way the Bruins faced the adversity and came away with the two points. With the trio of defensemen out of the lineup, Boston’s third defensive pair was Ian Mitchell and Parker Wotherspoon, with the latter making his season debut for the Bruins.

“I thought they did well,” Montogmery said. “There were a couple of reads that I didn’t like, but that’s part of the process, right? Everybody makes bad reads … you’re in a game.”

Montgomery added: “It’s a credit to the organization with the signings and the players we’ve acquired to have the depth we have to lose three D-men and go out and play a team like Toronto, call up three D-men and be able to win a hockey game. It’s pretty impressive. Great job by a lot of people in the organization.”

Not only did the Bruins have a new look on the blue line, but Hampus Lindholm saw his role change a bit in the match-up.

“He knew what we needed from him,” Montgomery said of Lindholm. “Usually he would slide into (McAvoy’s) place in the first power play unit, but we knew he was gonna have to eat up a lot of minutes. He did what was better for the Bruins by just saying, ‘Whatever you need.'”

Lindholm led all Bruins skaters with 29:32 minutes of ice time, including 2:26 short-handed and 1:39 on the power play.

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Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Leafs game:

— David Pastrnak may not have registered a point in the shootout win, but he played a physical game to help the Bruins defeat the Leafs.

“I thought he’s been physical the last couple of games,” Montgomery said. “I like it better when the puck is on his stick. But, I love the fact that he’s trying to lead us by playing the right way.”

— The Bruins successfully killed off both penalties in the game, allowing just one goal in 39 situations. Boston leads the league at 97.4% success rate.

— Jeremy Swayman improved to 5-0-0 on the season with a .954 save percentage and 1.38 goals against average. He’s made 145 saves on 152 shots he’s faced. In the win against the Leafs, Swayman made 33 saves in regulation including four on the penalty kill.

“It was huge and two unbelievable saves by Swayman,” Montgomery said of the second penalty kill. “He was huge in the last 10 minutes of the second. One save, he dove across and made the save with the top of his glove, and went up to the netting. Can’t say enough about both our goalies.”

— The Bruins head out on the road for a short two-game road trip with their first stop in the Motor City to face the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Puck drop from Little Caesars Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. You can catch all the action, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.