Donnelly: Lucic, bottom-six drag Bruins into fight in season-opener

There was a lot to celebrate for the Bruins on Opening Night at TD Garden. 

The B's kicked off their centennial season by rolling out the "gold carpet" for the arrivals of some of the organization's greatest players prior to the game. The ceremonies continued on the ice pregame when the same slew of franchise greats were honored. 

Worried they might send the legends home disappointed, Boston came away with a 3-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks, spoiling Connor Bedard's first career goal by potting three unanswered to close out the game, two from the stick of David Pastrnak. 

They'll take the win at the end of the day, but how they got there, though, wasn't worth celebrating, at least according to Jim Montgomery.

"Very average," Montgomery said of Boston's team game. "I didn't think we grew our game, but it's the first game of the year. If I think back to our first game last year, the only thing I liked last year more than this year was we played faster."

The Bruins dominated possession, especially at 5v5 against the rebuilding Blackhawks, out-attempting them 64-39, outshooting them 28-18 and out-chancing them 34-22 (12-8, high-danger), according to Natural Stat Trick. But the numbers didn't exactly equate to the eye test as the top two lines struggled to maintain chemistry and the disjointed power play failed to sustain pressure on an 0-for-3 night. 

"I didn't think we played fast enough consistently enough, but you expect there's going to be things and there's a lot of things to work on. You expect that in Game 1. We got the result. We did a lot of good things I thought in the third period to build our game, especially playing with a lead."

While the top six had its share of growing pains, it was the third and fourth lines that dragged Boston into the fight.

"I thought they were really good," Montgomery said of the fourth unit. "I thought our third line was really good if you could call it that, too. I thought those two lines, they got a lot of minutes because they were rewarded for playing really well." 

The third unit of Trent Frederic, Matt Poitras and Morgan Geekie was the catalyst for the Bruins' first-period equalizer. Geekie found Poitras streaking through neutral ice before the rookie went to his bread-and-butter move, pulling up and curling on the offensive half-wall before setting up Brandon Carlo. Frederic parked himself in front to redirect Carlo's shot. 

“The first goal we scored was all his savvy and poise with the puck,” Montgomery said of Poitras.

Frederic-Poitras-Geekie held a 70.6 percent edge in shot attempts (12-5) and an 81.8 percent advantage in scoring chances (9-2) at 5v5. Their expected goals ratio of 81.1 percent was second only to the fourth line's 84 percent. It was enough to earn Poitras and Geekie a look alongside Brad Marchand for part of the third period. 

Meanwhile, the Milan Lucic-Johnny Beecher-Jakub Lauko fourth line was a load for the Hawks to handle from the opening shift when Lucic found Lauko for a chance on the doorstep seconds into the game. No. 17 did his part, keeping up with his speedster linemates as all three used their heft and physicality to wreak havoc on the forecheck and along the boards elsewhere – Beecher found himself in his first career fight, scrapping with Jason Dickinson after boarding Cole Guttman. 

It seemed like every time they were on the ice, they were creating something. In the 5:43 they were together at 5v5 – deployed heavily on offense – the fourth line had a 9-2 edge in attempts, 5-1 edge in shots and 3-1 advantage in scoring chances (2-0, high-danger). 

"I thought we just did a good job at gaining the momentum of the game," Beecher said. "I thought we did a really good job playing north-south, getting it behind them, playing physical and then we did everything they've ever been asking us to do. So you know, I thought we had a good night."

Lucic said, "I thought we had a good start. I thought our shifts were good. We spent the majority of time in the O-zone, created a penalty and even on the first shift, we had a scoring chance right out of the get-go. We're three guys that play straight-line hockey, and we can use our size and speed. That provides a team energy and gives the team success."

At the helm of the tone-setting in the bottom six was Lucic, back in Black and Gold for the first time since 2015. The "Looch" chant from the Garden faithful was among the loudest of the pregame ovations, fit for a return worthy of the festivities. 

"It’s a special time in your life, those years that I spent here, so to be able to come back, that is so special to me," Lucic said. "It’s good to have emotion and show emotion."

His effectiveness with Beecher and Lauko earned him a look on the top line alongside Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha. He took advantage, turning the clock back to 2015 and setting up Pastrnak for the game-winning goal in the second period. 

Lucic's presence was valuable beyond his strong return to the ice, too, helping to guide two fledgling linemates in a 22-year-old rookie, Beecher, and a 23-year-old Lauko beginning his first full season as an NHLer.

"It helps a lot, just kind of calming us down. I mean, we're both so young and so new to the league," Beecher said. "I joked with Looch today. He asked if today was my first one, and I asked what number he was on, and he said 1,170-something. So, he's definitely got a lot more experience than us, and just does a good job keeping us level-headed."

The Bruins have been impressed by the 35-year-old's conditioning throughout the early going of his return, even if he won't be breaking any land speed records. It's what has helped him and his linemates complement each other well as an effective, pesky checking unit. But with a new leadership core still finding its footing, Lucic's greatest contributions might have been off the ice, and not just for the two youngsters he's riding with.

"He's had a tremendous camp and he's carrying it over. He came here in tremendous shape," Montgomery said. "Not only what you guys see on the ice, but the way he's talking on the bench. He's taking over a real important leadership role of talking about how to build our team game, about the important details. He was saying, you know, 'last two minutes of the first' and 'gotta get pucks in, get pucks out.' It just means more to the teammates when it comes from a player."