The Bruins have enjoyed substantial pockets of power-play success in recent years, and last season they had real stretches of special-teams dominance early in the year.
But one thing the B’s have not had, since Torey Krug exited in free agency seven years ago, is a point player that could effectively run a power play with creativity, control and a real threat from the point position. Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Mason Lohrei have all swapped out reps on the top power play unit with McAvoy usually the talented guy in that spot, but it’s been musical chairs at PP1 point to start this year with the Bruins D-man suspended for the first six games of the season.
With a struggling Bruins power play that had failed to score in the first four games and 10 tries of the season, Marco Sturm made the bold move to insert 23-year-old rookie defenseman Frederic Brunet at point on Boston’s sputtering top man advantage unit. In this instance, the B’s placing a bet on youthful skill panned out in a big way as Brunet made a really nice no-look pass to set up David Pastrnak’s first goal of the season and helped spark the B’s to a lopsided 6-1 win over the Mammoth at TD Garden on Thursday night.
The most impressive part of the play? After Elias Lindholm won the offensive zone draw, it looked like both Morgan Geekie and Brunet arrived at the puck around the same time – a common hockey situation where an unsure rookie could be too deferential to an established veteran player like Geekie.
Instead, Brunet took control of the puck and the situation, made a decisive move down the lane toward the net and then threw a no-look feed to Pastrnak for the five-hole sizzler from the faceoff circle. It’s the kind of confidence and directness that the Bruins had been talking about as a missing element to a power play unit that hadn’t produced thus far this season.
Phenomenal play from Frédéric Brunet for his first NHL point https://t.co/KwvgBdLjny
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) October 8, 2026
“Oh, it was great. I was freaking out when I got to that puck because I didn’t know what to do with it. So he knew what to do. He’s got a calm presence out there for a young guy,” said Geekie of Brunet. “He seemed very comfortable [at the point] so it was nice to see him make some plays out there.
“That’s kind of what you want guys to do is to step in and play their game. That’s what he did. Obviously, he was able to play a lot in Providence and make a difference down there, so it was nice to see him step in right away there and continue that.”
Brunet finished with an assist and a plus-1 rating in 18:42 of ice time with four shot attempts and four blocked shots in a second straight solid game on the back end since being inserted into the lineup.
A big night for Brunet 👏 https://t.co/Ct5MTx4End
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 9, 2026
The win in the fifth game of the season, of course, leaves just one more game until McAvoy returns to the lineup, and some decisions that will need to be made on the back end. But it would appear that it’s going to be difficult to take Brunet out of the lineup given the way that he has played in the last couple of games, and the way things looked on a PP unit that produced three goals in Thursday night’s win. It's also a long way from crowning Brunet as the permanent point man on the B's power play unit, but the first impression was absolutely a good one in the mammoth win over Utah.
“Yeah, he was great. He made that one play on the power play when David scored,” said Sturm. “It was pretty impressive actually coming from the blue line with the pressure on the young kid. He’s only been on that unit for a couple of days, so it was great to see. But overall another great game for him and we’re happy that he comes away with his first NHL point.”
One game after a bunch of the kids struggled in the loss to the Senators, they