Early on in any NHL training camp, it’s a time for young players and roster hopefuls on the bubble to announce their presence and begin a push for a roster spot when camp breaks for the regular season.
It can also be a time when the chances of winning an NHL job go by the boards if they can’t show enough with their chances and give way to the established veteran players once they’re readying for the regular season.
It was a little bit of both in Sunday night’s 5-2 preseason opening loss for the Bruins against the Washington Capitals at TD Garden.
Certainly, it was encouraging for rugged top-line left winger Morgan Geekie, who looked like he was in midseason form while scoring the game’s first goal. And a fourth line that featured Riley Duran, Patrick Brown and Jeffrey Viel was credited with being Boston’s “best line” by Marco Sturm in his comments after the game.
But there were a lot of players that struggled, and way too many moments that looked like last season’s dumpster fire in the defensive zone while Boston fell behind 4-1 in the first period and was never able to claw their way back. On a pair of early Capitals goals, the play amounted to a lost battle around the net as Victor Soderstrom (on the ice for three goals against in a span of about nine minutes in the first period) was overpowered below the goal line for Washington’s first goal and later Mason Lohrei was stripped right in front of the net leading to a Sonny Milano snipe at the net front.
And then there was this equally bad turnover by Nikita Zadorov that immediately led to a Washington goal as well.
Sonny Milano - Washington Capitals (1)* pic.twitter.com/89GIG8m0c3
— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) September 22, 2025
“Not the result we wanted, but I thought we got better as the game went along,” said Lohrei. “It’s a bit of a learning process. The faster we pick it up the better we will be. It’s about going out and executing. It’s easy fixes. It’s about doing the work, watching the video and then implementing the changes.
“it’s a working time of the year. That’s been the standard of our camp and that is not going to change.”
The mistakes and lost battles around the net as cardinal sins for an NHL defenseman and it’s the exact kind of thing that led Lohrei (minus-1 in 19:42 of ice time) to lead the NHL with a rough minus-47 last season.
“For Charlie [McAvoy] it’s been a long time,” said Sturm, of the pairing of Lohrei with McAvoy that played together on Sunday night. “At the start he was finding his way into the game a little bit, but he settled down big time. And Mason too. I already talked to him before [the season] and there are some details in his game that I’d like to correct and I’d like to see different. Sometimes it’s just a bad habit.
“He will be one of those guys that will sit right beside me and I will show him some video. We know he can definitely play better. Watching him in the past, there are turnovers. I think he has to get better in that and it’s a little bit of positioning. There were a few situations in the D-zone where he needs to recognize it very quickly. It’s hard league that is really fast.”
At the other end were some young forwards that are fighting for looks in this NHL camp, including Matej Blumel and Alex Steeves after both were signed as high-scoring AHL free agents this summer. Blumel, Steeves and Matt Poitras all finished with minus-3 ratings when it was all said and done and didn’t get on the scoresheet with NHL roster spots hanging in the balance for a team very short on offensive razzle dazzle.
Fraser Minten, Tanner Jeannot and Fabian Lysell didn’t crack the scoresheet either, skating together as a line, but at the very least they were able to avoid massive breakdowns in their own end.
That is not the way to merit additional playing time and chances with an unimpressive first impression, though the good news is that the youngsters will get additional chances to change their training camp narratives.
“Lots of kids fighting for a spot. Lots of information over the last three days. I don’t blame my players. They worked hard,” said Sturm. “But they just weren’t smart enough and that’s why we were down 4-1 quickly. This is going to give me something to work with and let me know exactly the areas that we need to work in.
“They do care. They went all out the last three days. Today I thought they looked a little tired. But this is experience too. They tried really hard, but then they don’t think. There were a lot of times they just got caught and they didn’t have a good F3…just not being there. But that’s something that just comes with experience with [Poitras]. Today, the whole line I don’t think was what they wanted, but I’m really confident those three guys will be better.”
Another young guy that struggled was goalie Michael DiPietro, who finished with a .762 save percentage before giving way to Simon Zajicek in the second half of the game. Some have pushed for DiPietro to get serious NHL consideration as there is concern about him clearing waivers if he begins the season in the AHL, but that isn’t going to be as big of a worry if his performance – behind an admittedly leaky defense – doesn’t improve over the course of camp as well.
Perhaps most encouraging, though, was the healthy return of McAvoy, who looked strong and fast while showing that his shoulder was 100 percent healthy. The good health of McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm will be an absolute requirement for even a small modicum of B’s success this season and getting through the first preseason game looking like himself was exactly what was needed.
“It was good to play hockey again,” said McAvoy, who hasn’t been in an NHL game since way back on Feb. 8. “When the preseason gets going there is some good and some bad, but it was good to be back out there again and feel good. Body feels good and now it’s about getting back the timing and getting my feet back under me.”
It is folly to put too much weight onto a preseason hockey game, and that goes doubly so for the very first game of the NHL exhibition season. But there were impressions made both good and bad after the opening loss that let everything in the Boston Bruins organization know there is a great deal more work to be done prior to a regular season that will be treacherous if they aren’t ready for it.