Most NHL teams hope and expect their younger players to step up and make resounding statements early in the preseason each year, and the Bruins had to be pleased with what they saw from their youngsters in the team’s preseason opener.
19-year-old wunderkind James Hagens scored a slick game-winner in the shootout in a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals at TD Garden on Sunday night, Matt Poitras set up the game-tying goal late in the third period with a clean offensive zone faceoff win, Michael DiPietro had a stellar debut (30 saves) as he takes over backup goaltending duties and young P-Bruins skaters Riley Duran and Jake Schmaltz teamed up for Boston’s other goal during regulation play.
Even young D-man Frederic Brunet showed encouraging signs away from the puck in the closing seconds, when the Capitals pushed for a late, game-winning goal; he made a diving play to poke the puck away and blocked a shot late in the proceedings to force overtime.
There were peaks and valleys to Boston’s performance over the course of the 65-plus minutes of hockey, of course, but Marco Sturm was pleased after it was all over with how his youngest players performed, and how the overall effort was true to the identity the Black and Gold aspire to play with this season.
“Overall, I was happy with my guys,” said Sturm after the preseason game was over. “I worked them pretty good the last three days [at training camp], so I knew they were going to be tired. But they didn’t stop, they worked and they tried everything that was possible.
“So that’s what I liked about today’s game. For me that’s us…that’s Bruins hockey. Mikey [DiPietro] was really good. He made some really good saves early on. I was really happy with his efforts and his overall game, and that was the same with the other [young] guys too. With Wash they went with a little bit of size, especially on the back end, so we had a little trouble getting to the front of the net, but the guys worked and I didn’t mind their games.”
Clearly, the most eyes were on Hagens, and he was active throughout while playing on the “Kid Line” with Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten, posting three shots on net and six total shot attempts while generating some offensive chances. But the real eye-catching moment was Hagens pulling off the