Bruins Wrap: Boston Defeats Leafs In Shootout With Jake DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle Goals

BOSTON– The Bruins and Maple Leafs met for the first time this season in an Original Six matchup at TD Garden on Thursday night with Boston coming away with the 3-2 shootout victory.

With the win, the Bruins improved to 9-0-1 on the season, while the Leafs dropped to 5-3-2.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Down three of their core defensemen with Matt Grzelcyk and Derek Forbort sidelined with injuries and Charlie McAvoy serving the first of his four-game suspension, the Bruins relied on veterans Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo and Kevin Shattenkirk to hold down the blue line.

Mason Lorhei made his NHL debut for Boston and notched his first career point when he assisted on Pavel Zacha’s fourth goal of the season in the first period. The 22-year-old logged 5-on-5 ice time but was an intricate part of the penalty kill as well with McAvoy and Forbort out of the lineup.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery showed a lot of confidence in defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, who also made his season debut for the Bruins with the trio of defensemen sidelined. Like Lorhei, Wotherspoon saw time on the penalty kill.

Along with the defensemen in front of him, Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves on the night in his fifth win of the season.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves in regulation and stopped Michael Nylander and Auston Matthews in the shootout for his fifth win of the season.

— Zacha lit the lamp in the first period to a wide-open net when Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo pinched down to the faceoff dot putting the puck right on the blade of Zacha’s stick. Zacha now has four goals and six points in his last five games.

Super cleannnn by number 1️⃣8️⃣ pic.twitter.com/n9E2c4pdC1

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 3, 2023

— Jake DeBrusk scored his first goal of the season in the second period to give the Bruins the 2-0 lead.

STARTED THE SECOND WITH SOME SEVEN FOUR. pic.twitter.com/6oRgcanwpo

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 3, 2023

WAGER WATCH
FanDuel Sportsbooks set the odds at +2000 that Zacha would score the first goal of the game. The speedy forward cleared those odds with his fourth goal of the season in the first period. A $100 wager would have netted a $2,100 payout.

UP NEXT
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.