Not even a return to the comforts of TD Garden was enough to snap the Bruins out of their early-season funk Thursday night, as the Bruins fell into penalty troubles once again and struggled to manage the puck in a streak-extending 5-2 loss to the Stars.
“Our attitudes need to go in a better, healthier direction,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said after his team’s latest setback. “Our attitudes are not in the moment. They’re on the results.”
By not being in the moment, Montgomery feels that his team is getting frustrated too quickly, and that they’re seemingly forgetting that winning games in this league is “really difficult.” That, for the Bruins, has manifested itself in the ugliness that’s become all too common, with those aforementioned penalty woes, and games seemingly slipping out of the B’s grasp in the blink of an eye.
Third Star: Justin Brazeau
Oct 24, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins right wing Justin Brazeau (55) tries to tuck the puck past Dallas Stars goaltender Casey DeSmith (1) while defenseman Miro Heiskanen (4) at TD Garden (Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)
If there’s a positive to take from Thursday’s loss, other than the fact that the game ultimately came to end without another power-play goal against in the third period, it’s that Justin Brazeau returned to the lineup and looked as good as he has at any point in this young season.
Brazeau even got on the board with a power-play strike of his own.
Even beyond the power-play goal, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Brazeau was all over the ice (in a good way), generating high-danger chances and second-chance opportunities throughout the evening.
So much has been made about the B’s middle six and its inability to get some scoring on the board at the same rate it did a year ago. And a player like Brazeau is included in that conversation given the impressive sample size he had a year ago, with five goals in 19 regular-season games and a solid playoff showing in a limited role. To get him going, even if it’s just one goal in one game, and to have him respond the way he did after being scratched against the Predators has to be a positive development in an otherwise frustrating game for the Bruins.
Second Star: Tyler Seguin
Oct 24, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) shoots the puck during warmups prior to a game against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images)
If you want more proof that we are all getting old and that time is an illusion, 15-season veteran Tyler Seguin’s Dallas tenure is now four times longer than his Boston tenure. Four! And Seguin’s latest visit to TD Garden felt like his most impactful one post-Bruins, too, as the 32-year-old posted a goal and two helpers in the victory.
In addition to the point production, Seguin also drew a penalty against the Bruins’ Brad Marchand, and had his best 2024-25 showing at the faceoff dot to date, with wins in five of his seven faceoffs.
First Star: Matt Duchene
Oct 22, 2024; Buffalo, New York, USA; Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) celebrates his goal during the third period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. (Timothy T. Ludwig/Imagn Images)
Seguin wasn’t the only Star to post a three-point night, and perhaps the only player to have a better night than Seguin was teammate Matt Duchene, who also put up a goal and two assists in the Dallas victory.
I think the only reason you’d put Duchene’s night above Seguin’s night was the fact that Duchene was able to draw the interference penalty against Bruins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon that led to the Stars’ third goal of the night, which ultimately held as the game-winning goal by the night’s end.
