10 takeaways from Bruins’ exhibition loss to Blue Jackets

A mix of analysis and observations after the Bruins’ 4-1 loss to the Blue Jackets in their exhibition game matchup in Toronto: 

Box Score

1. The Bruins looked like a team … that hasn’t played in 4+ months 

Time to hit the panic button? Nah, of course not. 

Still, the Bruins didn’t exactly inspire much confidence when it comes to shaking off the evident rust formed over a four-month layoff, as the club sleepwalked over the opening 20 minutes en route to a 4-1 defeat in their exhibition matchup against the Blue Jackets Thursday night. 

While Boston gradually tilted the ice back in their favor as the game went on, a listless first period put the B’s in a hole that they would not climb out of — with Columbus scoring three unanswered goals against Tuukka Rask, including one on the power play.

Yes, Rask was not sharp in his first taste of game action since March, but Boston’s defensive structure was porous throughout the period, with a defenseman like David Savard gifted multiple clear shooting lanes, while trailing skaters in the crease and high slot were often able to quickly recover loose pucks and rebounds. 

Some ugly hockey was to be expected in a tune-up like this, but even if this contest means nothing in the grand scheme of things, the B’s need to be much, much sharper on Sunday during round-robin play against Philadelphia. 



(Columbus held an 18-8 edge in scoring chances generated over the opening 20 minutes of play. Not great.)

2. Still, Columbus looks to be a tough out this postseason

Whereas we shouldn’t put too much stock in Boston’s showing on Thursday night, the Blue Jackets — who jump into playoff action Sunday against the Maple Leafs — have to be pretty satisfied with how they fared in this matchup.

With players like Seth Jones (ankle injury), Cam Atkinson (ankle), Oliver Bjorkstrand (ankle), Alexandre Texier (back) and Dean Kukan (knee) back in the fold during this restart, the Blue Jackets are already a vastly different team from the one that still managed to punch their ticket to the postseason back in the spring. 

That tenacious style of play — a hallmark of a John Tortorella team — was present throughout Thursday’s matchup, as Columbus primarily kept the Bruins to the outside for a majority of play, clogging up the slot and negating quality looks thanks to some timely blocks. 

Best of luck next week, Toronto. 

3. Marchand leaves early due to injury 

Regardless of Thursday’s result, Bruce Cassidy and the Bruins likely would have been satisfied with the matchup so long as their roster remained intact.

Well, such wasn’t the case.



Brad Marchand only ended up logging 13:55 of ice time in the loss, exiting during the third period after some sort of ailment during the tail end of a PK shift. Marchand, who was in visible discomfort during the shift, did not return upon making it back to the bench. 

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Clearly a scary sight for Bruins fans, to say the least, but Cassidy noted postgame that he wasn’t too concerned with his top left winger’s status going forward — with his absence more precautionary than anything. 

“He left (the game),” Cassidy said. “I don’t think it’s anything serious, but we’ll have a better idea obviously in the morning.”

Marchand, like many other Bruins, was rusty in this one, finishing with zero shots on goal in his outing, while also coughing up a puck in the slot that nearly led to a tally from Pierre-Luc Dubois. 

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4. Studnicka a bright spot on Krejci’s line

If there was any positive to draw from Thursday’s loss, it would clearly have to be Jack Studnicka’s showing on the second line next to David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk. 

After deferring a Grade-A shot during his opening shift, Studnicka quickly settled into a groove, with the 21-year-old skater’s tendency for driving to the net often being rewarded by way of some slick feeds by way of Krejci. 

Yes, Studnicka has the speed and hands to pull off some impressive individual efforts, but if so long as he keeps it simple and keeps driving down low and operating in Grade-A ice, that alone is going to lead to a slew of quality looks, especially with Krejci orchestrating the offense. 

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In the 8:52 of 5v5 TOI that the DeBrusk-Krejci-Studnicka line logged together on Thursday, Boston held a commanding 8-1 edge in scoring chances — and 4-1 lead in high-danger chances — against the Blue Jackets. 

5. Rask rusty in opening 20

Boston’s lackluster defensive structure certainly didn’t do him any favors throughout the first 30 minutes of Thursday’s contest, but Rask was far from sharp in his outing against Columbus, relinquishing three goals on 20 total shots. 

Rask, who suffered a fractured finger just ahead of Phase 3 workouts, noted postgame that he has switched back to his normal glove and wasn't feeling any ill effects from the injury on Thursday. Still, the B's netminder left a lot to be desired, especially on a sequence in which Zach Werenski and Gustav Nyquist lit the lamp just 16 seconds apart.

Jaroslav Halak, who took over netminding duties midway through the second period, stopped all eight shots that came his way down the stretch.

Postgame, Cassidy confirmed that Rask will indeed start Sunday against the Flyers, although Halak could earn a look in another round-robin game later next week.

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"As I said, we're going to use both  (goalies) and I don't want to get too far ahead of myself," Cassidy said. "Let's see how Tuukka does Sunday and how he feels coming out of that game. Then we'll make the decision of who goes against Tampa."

6. Pastrnak shakes off rust in a hurry 

If this is how David Pastrnak looks after just three practices in over a month, imagine what he'd look like as a full Phase 3 participant?

All jokes aside, Pastrnak looked no worse for wear in Boston's exhibition tilt on Thursday, scoring Boston's lone goal of the evening at 12:16 in the second period. The play was started by Sean Kuraly, who recovered the puck in the defensive zone and carried it all the way down the ice, eventually firing in a shot that bounced towards Pastrnak. The B's top winger faked a shot before eventually tucking the biscuit through Elvis Merzļikins' five-hole to put Boston on the board.

Like many Bruins, the execution still wasn't totally there for Pastrnak, especially when it came to set plays and passing sequences in Columbus' zone. But for a guy who hasn't skated all that much since the start of July, Thursday was a very encouraging sight.



7. Kuraly demoted from third line

Since the start of Phase 3 workouts at Warrior Ice Arena, Kuraly has primarily been skating in unfamiliar territory, with Boston’s usual fourth-line center slotting in on the wing next to Charlie Coyle. 

While Kuraly’s blend of size and north-south speed certainly made him an intriguing candidate next to another big body in Coyle, that experiment didn’t last all that long on Thursday night. 

A careless pass from Kuraly in the neutral zone led to Columbus’ opening tally on the night, with the Jackets capitalizing on the counter-rush off of a backhand tap-in from Boone Jenner. Fittingly, it was Kuraly that also failed to pick up a charging Jenner on the backcheck, allowing the Columbus forward to skate into the crease and knock home the biscuit.



That was it for Kuraly on the third line, as he primarily skated back in his usual spot on the fourth line for the remainder of the contest. He did eventually rebound as the game went on, setting up Pastrnak’s tally on the rush in the second period, while adding some thump in a rather pugnacious third period. 

With Kuraly bumped out of the third line, Coyle primarily skated with Anders Bjork and Karson Kuhlman. Even though that trio struggled to generate much in terms of sustained offensive-zone pressure (one shot on goal in 6:51 of 5v5 ice time together), that chance was a high-danger attempt, with Bjork recovering a puck behind the Jackets' net and feeding Coyle in front on a one-time attempt.

8. No love lost, even in an exhibition matchup

Speaking a day before Thursday's matchup, Cassidy noted that the tone of these exhibition games has been more frantic, rather than physical, with most teams focusing more on getting their legs back under them, rather than leaving welts against the opposition.

"Managing the puck is always a challenge your first few games to get back to playing,. ... The games haven't been as physical that they would typically be for the playoffs," Cassidy said. "I'm not surprised by that. I think every player is trying to get his bearings down, get the pace of the game, awareness of people around them. And a lot of times you don't want to leave it out on the table in exhibition games and injure yourself as well. So I think everyone's ramping up for the play-ins or the round-robin so that's why you'll probably see that trend continue again today."

Well, Thursday's game was far from a friendly between these two clubs, with a couple of heavy hits and scrums highlighting the final 20 minutes of play. Kuraly was in the middle of most of the fracas, dropping Emil Bemström — who concussed Rask back in January — with a heavy check along the boards. Par Lindholm also skated into Merzļikins while crossing through the crease, starting another spat.

Exhibition or no exhibition, it's not going to take very long for some of these competitive tune-ups to go off the rails.

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9. Power play hampered by poor execution

While Pastrnak put together an encouraging outing on Thursday, the same can't really be said for Boston's power-play unit — which went 0-for-2 on the night and only landed three shots on goal over 4:02 of 5v4 ice time. Columbus' aggressive PK certainly played a hand in those woes on the man advantage, but quite a bit of it was also self-inflicted — with many promising O-zone looks often thwarted by errant passes and missed feeds. There's no need to panic for a power-play unit that has regularly snapped out of lulls in a hurry, but Cassidy will likely want to see much more cohesion come Sunday against Philly.

10. Nathan Gerbe draws the short straw

Just ahead of puck drop, both the Bruins and Blue Jackets locked arms in a circle during both the U.S. and Canadian national anthems — part of Boston’s team-wide response “as a sign of solidarity with the Black community.”

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While the visual of both clubs interlocked at center ice was a nice touch, poor Nathan Gerbe (5-foot-4) was short end of the stick when it came to who he ended up locking arms with — 6-foot-9 Chara. Cam Atkinson, all of 5-foot-8, didn’t fare much better next to Boston’s behemoth defenseman.