If there was ever a time for a letdown five games into a season, a Sunday night showdown with the Ducks, and with the Bruins playing on the second leg of a back-to-back and skating in their third game in four nights, would’ve been it.

And when Mason McTavish popped home a juicy rebound to score the first goal of the contest early in the third period, it appeared as if the Black and Gold were indeed in line for a letdown and their first loss of the new campaign.

But powered by a pair of strikes in less than four minutes, along with another stellar performance from their goaltender (the Bruins are five-for-five on that front out of the gate this season), the Bruins instead pushed their season-opening to five straight victories. For the Bruins, it’s officially their longest season-opening win streak since 1937, and has put the club in line to tie that franchise record when the B’s take their act to Chicago on Tuesday night.

The B’s had to do this one without two of their depth pieces, too, as both Milan Lucic and Derek Forbort were absent from Sunday’s contest due to injuries that are considered day-to-day until otherwise noted.

• Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars from a 3-1 win in Anaheim…

• No. 3 Star: Morgan Geekie

  

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 05: Morgan Geekie #39 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 05, 2023 in New York City. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

   

• The most expensive signing of Don Sweney’s offseason, the versatile Morgan Geekie has settled in to the tune of points in back-to-back games with an assist in Sunday’s victory after scoring his first goal in a Boston uniform the night before in Los Angeles. (For what it’s worth, this is a bit of theme with Geekie, really, as he had three separate point streaks of two, three, and four games with the Kraken last year.)

  On Sunday, Geekie’s assist was a real beauty, as he fed Matt Poitras with a no-look, backhand pass that hit Poitras right on the tape and led to the first NHL goal of the 19-year-old’s career.

  Geekie also won two of his three faceoffs, finished with a plus-2 rating, and the Bruins outshot the Ducks by a 7-6 mark with Geekie on the ice at five-on-five play. Geekie also logged 16:34 of time on ice during five-on-five play, which was second to only Hampus Lindholm and his 19:31 of five-on-five action.

• No. 2 Star: Linus Ullmark

  

  Oct 22, 2023; Anaheim, California, USA; Boston Bruins fans celebrate a win as goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) leaves ice after defeating the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 at Honda Center. (Kiyoshi Mio/USA TODAY Sports)

• While the Bruins remain on the hunt for their identity as a five-on-five club (and Sunday was one of the uglier nights on that front), their goaltending has remained all-world and kept them afloat each and every night. And on Sunday night, it was Linus Ullmark’s turn to lead the charge once again.

  Hit with 31 shots from the Ducks, Ullmark finished with just one goal against for the third straight start, and his best save of the evening came on a net-front stuff on a Frank Vatrano bid.

  Vatrano's jam attempt comes very close to crossing the goal line but Ullmark stays strong at the post#FlyTogether | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/Zm9qmiFRRE

  — Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) October 23, 2023

  Per Natural Stat Trick, Ullmark’s night featured an expected goals against of 3.63 at all-situational play, and Ullmark turned aside seven of the eight high-danger shots he faced. That’s in line with everything we’ve seen to date, too, as Ullmark’s has the fourth-best all-situational goals saved above average in the NHL, at 4.49.

  The reigning Vezina Trophy winner is off to about as good a start as anybody could have hoped for, with three wins and a .962 save percentage. (And yes, that’ll keep you in it most nights.)

• No. 1 Star: Matt Poitras

  

  Oct 22, 2023; Anaheim, California, USA; Boston Bruins center Matthew Poitras (51) reacts after scoring a game tying goal during the third period against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. (Kiyoshi Mio/USA TODAY Sports)

• Entering the weekend back-to-back, I truthfully wasn’t sure where the Bruins were going to land on Matt Poitras and the primary location of his 2023-24 campaign.

  Three games into his NHL run, and after what was an electric preseason that was taxing to the naked eye alone, it was worth wondering if the 19-year-old was approaching a bit of a wall. His performance in San Jose was real quiet, and it wasn’t going to get any easier for him as the Bruins shifted to Los Angeles for a game the deep-down-the-middle Kings and then the Ducks on the second leg of a back-to-back.

  Well, here we are on a victory Monday for the Bruins, and I gotta say, it’s officially hard for me to think that the Bruins are going to send Poitras back to OHL Guelph.

  Matthew Poitras with his SECOND NHL goal — less than four minutes after his first tally.
  
  2-1 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/2uWXkZJYpn

  — Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) October 23, 2023

  On the board with the game-tying and game-winning goal in Sunday’s come-from-behind win, Poitras’ confidence is certainly on the rise, and the Bruins love what they’re seeing.

  “He’s a hockey player,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said of Poitras after Sunday’s win. “He believes in himself, he competes, he believes in himself, he’s always looking to hold on to pucks and make plays that are gonna produce offense.”

  Beyond the offense, the Bruins had to love what Poitras and linemates Jake DeBrusk and Morgan Geekie provided in a night where the rest of the Bruins were relatively flat. While his line’s offensive-zone usage certainly played a part in these figures, the Bruins actually outshot the Ducks by a 7-4 mark with Poitras on the ice during five-on-five play. When Poitras was on the bench? The Bruins found themselves outshot 17-7. The line also engineered Boston’s comeback with their dogged determination to funnel pucks to high-danger ice.

  “Loved how [Matthew] Poitras’ line went out and got it right back,” Montgomery said. “I thought it was a great play all around. JD [Jake DeBrusk] made a great play on the wall to Mitchy [Ian Mitchell], Mitchell sauced it over to [Morgan] Geekie, and what a pass by Geekie over to Poitras who buried it.”

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