Boston Bruins
Game 1: Game On! Boston Bruins vs, Stars Lines, Preview
The 2021-22 regular season is finally here for the Boston Bruins and their fans!
The Bruins will kick off a new season tonight at TD Garden when they host the Dallas Stars (7:08 PM ET, NESN, BSSW).
The Bruins are coming off a second straight second-round exit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after going 33-16-7 with 73 points in the one-time East Division and an abbreviated 56-game season.
There was plenty of change this past offseason as the Bruins said goodbye to longtime goalie Tuukka Rask and longtime center David Krejci, as well as goalie Jaro Halak, defensemen Steven Kampfer, Jeremy Lauzon, Jarred Tinordi, Kevan Miller, and forwards Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, Sean Kuraly and Greg McKegg. In for them are Nick Foligno, Erik Haula, and Tomas Nosek, defenseman Derek Forbort and goalie Linus Ullmark.
Boston Bruins Notes
-As mentioned above, Swayman will get the nod between the pipes for the Boston Bruins and he will become the first rookie goalie to start on opening night for the Bruins since Blaine Lacher in 1995. Lacher went on to be a Calder Trophy finalist but hall of famer Peter Forsberg was voted as rookie of the year. Swayman is still considered a rookie because he played just 10 games last season. A player must play 25 games or more for a season to count as one for him.
– Boston Bruins forwards Foligno, Haula, and Nosek, as well as defenseman Forbort, will all be playing in their first regular season for the Bruins.
– Forward Curtis Lazar is the lone injured player and on injured reserve with an upper-body injury suffered midway through training camp.
Dallas Stars Notes
– The last time the Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars met was on February 27, 2020 and as FOBHN Conor Ryan tweeted Saturday, that game featured a fight with the most unlikely combatants:
The last time the Bruins and Stars met (Feb. 27, 2020), who could forget the anticipated heavyweight matchup between … David Krejci and Joe Pavelski?
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) October 16, 2021
-This will be the first time that former Boston Bruins forward Tyler Seguin, whom the Bruins drafted second overall at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, faces Taylor Hall, whom the Edmonton Oilers took a pick ahead of Seguin that year since Hall became a Bruin.
-Old friend and former Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin will also be returning to TD Garden but will be the backup to Holtby.
Boston Bruins Lines
Forwards:
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall – Charlie Coyle – Craig Smith
Jake DeBrusk – Erik Haula – Nick Foligno
Trent Frederic – Tomáš Nosek – Karson KuhlmanÂ
Defense:
Derek Forbort – Charlie McAvoy
Mike Reilly – Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Clifton
Goalies:
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
Dallas Stars Lines
Forwards
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Jacob Peterson — Roope Hintz — Joe Pavelski
Michael Raffl – Radek Faksa – Denis Gurianov
Joel Kiviranta — Luke Glendening — Tanner Kero
Defense
Esa Lindell — Miro Heiskanen
Ryan Suter — Andrej Sekera
Joel Hanley — Jani Hakanpää
Goalies
Braden Holtby
Anton Khudobin
Betting Odds NHL
The Bruins are a +140 to cover 1.5 goals. The over/under is 5.5 (-132) and the Bruins are -198 money line, according to FanDuel.