3 Stars: B’s goaltending remains on fire to begin new season

There's just something about those Hollywood nights, in those Hollywood hills, that get the Bruins looking so right.

Back in Los Angeles for their first and only visit of the regular season to the arena formerly known as the Staples Center (call it that goofy name on your own time, pal), the Bruins scratched and clawed their way to another two points and their fourth win of the season in as many outings by a 4-2 final.

"I think we started getting more physical and we got emotion into our game,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said after the win. “Give [Trent Frederic] a great job with the fight because I think our bench really got going on that. I think we just wore out the back of the net, we held on to pucks. I think we really saw the type of team we believe we can be.”

With the victory, the Bruins captured their sixth straight win in LA over the Kings. It’s tied for the longest unbeaten streak in Los Angeles in Bruins history, matching six-game streak (5-0-0-1) that ran from Jan. 30, 1969 to Oct. 14, 1970.

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars from a 4-2 win in LA...

Bruins defenseman Derek Forbort will outright tell you that he doesn't care about putting up points. In fact, he said exactly that following Saturday's win over the Kings. But when he does put up points, it's typically one hell of a night for both Forbort and the Bruins, and one usually worth celebrating.

Out there for 22:20 of action, Forbort recorded two assists (his first two-assist night since Oct. 27, 2022), was a plus-2, and tied with Charlie McAvoy for the team lead in hits (five).

Forbort also logged what was a team-high 5:13 of shorthanded time on ice for a Boston penalty kill that survived a lengthy five-on-three and killed off their first five trips to the box before a garbage-time goal with 1:10 left in the third period.

It would appear that Brad Marchand has officially settled in to life as the Bruins' captain.

After Thursday's win in San Jose saw the 5-foot-9 wing score his first goal since donning the 'C' on his sweater, Marchand followed that performance up with a two-goal effort — and timely goals at that — in Saturday's win over LA. The Bruins needed this kind of performance from Marchand, especially with the team down noted Kings killer Jake DeBrusk, and the first of Marchand's two goals ultimately proved to be the game winner.

The Bruins needed this kind of performance from Marchand, especially with the team down noted Kings killer Jake DeBrusk, and the first of Marchand's two goals ultimately proved to be the game winner.

It's taken all of four games for the world to see why the Bruins weren't so keen on simply giving away a goaltender to solve their summertime cap issues.

Reigning Vezina winner Linus Ullmark has picked up where he left off a year ago, and surrendered just two goals through his first 120 minutes of action this season. And through two starts, Jeremy Swayman has matched that effort and intensity, with Saturday's performance in Hollywood looking like something worthy of an Academy Award (or a nod on the website's postgame '3 Stars' piece, same thing really).

Forced to weather a strong LA push out of the gate, Swayman turned aside all 14 shots that Los Angeles threw at him in the opening frame, and followed that up with a 12-for-13 performance in the second period. In fact, it took a wraparound gone awry to give the Kings a breakaway and their first goal of the evening on Swayman.

And sometimes, a 32-of-34 performance can be a box score 32-of-34 and come on a relatively quiet night. This was not that. In fact, according to NaturalStatTrick, Swayman finished Saturday's showdown with saves on nine of the 11 high-danger shots thrown his way at all-situational play.

Goaltending like the goaltending the Bruins are getting will keep you in it at all times.