3 Stars: Bruins hot start in goal leads to another win
A look at the top performers from Saturday’s showdown between the Bruins and Sabres at TD Garden.
Oct 8, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) stands on the ice during a timeout against the Washington Capitals during the third period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
The Boston Bruins entered the 2025-26 season stressing the need for every single skater on the ice to be pulling in the same direction. This was not just a pump-up from management or the new coaching staff, led by first-time NHL head coach Marco Sturm. It was an outright demand after what the Bruins considered to be a disjointed training camp and even more disjointed 2024-25 season on the way to the club's first playoff miss in almost a decade.
And through three games, there's no denying that Sturm has gotten exactly that out of his club, as the Bruins finished strong for their third win in as many tries this season with a 3-1 win over the Sabres on Saturday night.
“You can see it in the game today, everyone is excited to play [and] everyone works," Sturm said following the win. "We’re a family. That’s what family does: support each other, we help each other.”
Here's a look at the 985TheSportsHub.com 3 Stars of the game...
3rd Star: Pavel Zacha
Oct 4, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Pavel Zacha (18) works the puck through the neutral zone during the third period period at TD Garden. (Eric Canha-Imagn Images)
Bruins head coach Marco Sturm has made it known that he's going to rely on his second line of Viktor Arvidsson, Casey Mittelstadt, and Pavel Zacha to provide the secondary offense he'll need out of his group in 2025-26. And on Saturday night, Zacha took that to heart, with one goal on one shot.
With the goal, Zacha is off to a point-per-game start to his season.
2nd Star: Mark Kastelic
Oct 11, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Mark Kastelic (47) is congratulated at the bench after scoring against the Buffalo Sabres. (Winslow Townson-Imagn Images)
When it comes to non-scorers in scoring situations, there's truly no such thing as a bad shot. Mark Kastelic embodied that Saturday night, as he sent a seeing-eye shot through traffic and ultimately through the Sabres' Alex Lyon for what turned out to be the game-winning goal in this one.
In addition to the goal, Kastelic also made a pair of great plays on the penalty kill (the Bruins are incorporating Kastelic into the PK more than they did in his first year with the club), and Kastelic even drew a penalty with a strong net-front drive just as the Boston penalty expired.
Kastelic finished this game with a goal and an assist, as well as a hit and one block, in under 13 minutes of time on ice. Talk about an effective outing.
1st Star: Jeremy Swayman
Oct 4, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) at the net during the second period against the New York Rangers at TD Garden. (Eric Canha-Imagn Images)
The 2024-25 season was one to forget for Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman. We could say that about pretty much any Bruin not named Morgan Geekie or David Pastrnak, but it was an especially trying one for the 26-year-old Swayman and in his first year as Boston's undeniable No. 1 starter.
And, really, the only way for Swayman to silence his loudest critics would be to come out and show that last year was not the goalie he plans on being for the Bruins. Through two games (and yes, we know, it's just two games), Swayman is doing exactly that, as he turned in yet another strong showing, this time with a 22-of-23 performance in the Boston net.
In fact, it would've been a shutout for Swayman had it not been for an Andrew Peeke deflection that ramped up and off the Black and Gold defenseman's stick and through Swayman for the lone Buffalo goal of the night.
