Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco summed up his team’s bounce-back victory over the Blue Jackets on Saturday as a ‘professional’ kind of game from his bench.
It’s hard to argue with him there.
The Bruins held the Blue Jackets off the scoreboard entirely, and Boston rebounded in some key areas, with a penalty kill that went 3-for-3 (including a huge, four-minute kill) one night after going 0-for-3, while three of the Black and Gold’s four lines got on the board with a goal.
Third Star: Mason Lohrei
Dec 28, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei (6) and center Pavel Zacha (18) celebrate a goal by right wing David Pastrnak (88) during the second period against the Blue Jackets at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images)
When Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei is “going,” the stats are usually eye-popping. That’s typically how it goes when you’re talking about a 6-foot-5 puck-moving defenseman with a creative mind. And though that was not the case on Saturday night — Lohrei finished the game with just one assist and one block — Lohrei had arguably his best game of the season, as he was on the ice for all four of Boston’s goals in the victory.
Lohrei is just the fourth Bruins defenseman to post a plus-4 rating in a game in the post-2005 NHL, joining Zdeno Chara, Matt Grzelcyk, and Charlie McAvoy (who did it back on Dec. 1 against Montreal) in that respect.
Second Star: Morgan Geekie
Dec 28, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Mathieu Olivier (24) and Boston Bruins center Morgan Geekie (39) battle for a loose puck during the second period at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images)
For Bruins forward Morgan Geekie, this season is following a similar script to last season, with the 6-foot-3 do-it-all type getting hot just after American Thanksgiving. In what’s been a white-hot month of December for Geekie, Saturday was another success story, with a goal and an assist for the B’s.
Going back to Dec. 4, Geekie has recorded six goals and 10 points in his last 11 games played. His six goals are tied for the 19th-most among all forwards over that span, while his 10 points are tied for the 44th-most among forwards. Geekie has always been a player whose streakiness will either be his best or worst quality at any given moment, but right now, he’s providing strong support for a Boston top six that’s humming along.
First Star: Jeremy Swayman
Dec 28, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) makes a glove save during the second period against the Columbus Blue Jackets at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images)
From a personal production standpoint, it has not been the season that Jeremy Swayman thought it would be.
There’s been some small pockets of excellence and the wins have come at a higher clip than they were in previous months, but we’ve yet to see the Swayman who broke through and emerged as the best goalie in the playoffs last spring. (And, listen, if we gotta wait until April to see that guy come back, that’s fine.)
But there’s been a lot of games where you’ve looked at Swayman’s game and said, “Man, I wonder if this is the one that gets him going on a legitimate heater.” Saturday was another one of those nights, as Swayman turned aside all 18 shots faced for his second shutout victory of the 2024-25 season. Early-game puck handling issues aside, Swayman was a constant for the Bruins in this game, and came through with some big-time stops, and some key ‘freezes’ to allow the Bruins to settle down and/or get some fresher bodies out there.
