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Patrice Bergeron did not score a goal for the Bruins in their season opener, but he was one of the biggest factors in their 2-1 win.
The Philadelphia Flyers are one of the many Eastern Conference teams that could end up finishing the 2014-15 season in pretty much any position and it wouldn't be a shock. Playoffs? Given their forwards and power play, sure, it's possible. Somewhere near the bottom? Given their defense and goaltending, it's a lot more possible than some might realize.
If they're going to end up finishing in the top half of the conference and get back to the playoffs, they're going to need their big guns up front to carry the load and do pretty much all of the heavy lifting.
During their 2-1 loss season-opening loss in Boston on Wednesday night, that did not happen. The trio of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn combined for just four shot attempts all night with only two of them reaching Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask.
The good news is that Sean Couturier found the back of the net in what the Flyers hope is the start of a breakout season offensively. The bad news is that the goal, which was mostly the result of a fortunate bounce, was the only offense the team managed all night. It was answered later in the third period by Chris Kelly's game-winning goal in the final two minutes.
The other bad news for the Flyers? They had no answer for Patrice Bergeron.
3 things
1. Patrice Bergeron completely shut down Claude Giroux - Bergeron is one of the best in the NHL at pretty much everything. In the opener, he was given the task of going up against Philadelphia's Claude Giroux for most of the night and he pretty much ate his lunch. When the two were matched up head-to-head, the Bruins attempted 16 of the 19 shot attempts. Bergeron won 10 of his 12 faceoffs against Giroux, including four out of five in the defensive zone.
2. Zac Rinaldo still takes bad penalties - Zac Rinaldo isn't the most disciplined player in the world, and sometimes he does some dumb things. He did it again early in the first period on Wednesday when he took a roughing penalty behind the play and was watching from the penalty box when Reilly Smith opened the scoring on the ensuing power play. Those things sting in one-goal losses.
3. Bobby Robins didn't waste any time getting into his first fight - With Shawn Thornton now doing his thing in Florida, the Bruins for some reason felt that they needed to keep up with their "Big Bad Bruins" image and bring in another designated face puncher to fill his role. To do this, they turned to 32-year-old Bobby Robins, who had never played a game in the NHL until Wednesday and was the veteran of more than 100 fights in the minor leagues. He ended up playing seven minutes in the win and, naturally, found himself in his first career NHL fight with Philadelphia's Luke Schenn.