Haggerty: ‘Battling’ Boston Bruins Defy Doubters With Strong Start |BHN+

BOSTON – Every time people start doubting these Boston Bruins, they seem to always step up and remind everybody of their excellence.

There were plenty of good reasons to doubt the Black and Gold headed into this tumultuous season, of course. This humble hockey writer certainly did in an East Division with five legitimate playoff teams vying for four postseason spots, and with the Boston Bruins coming off a truly “meh” offseason. The Bruins were going to be without the NHL’s leading scorer for the first few weeks of the regular season and they were introducing key young players into the lineup after both Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara departed in free agency.

If there was a time when the Bruins couldn’t afford a slow start to the year, it was with a 56-game compacted schedule facing them this season due to COVID-19 circumstances. It even initially appeared like a sluggish start might be happening, as predicted, when the Bruins went through three full games without an even strength goal to begin the regular season.

But then the resilient Black and Gold got up off the mat Captain America-style and essentially said “I could do this all day” to the rest of the East Division.