6 Bruins thoughts from 6 days in Florida – 98.5 The Sports Hub

The Bruins broke even in Florida.

Of course, they didn’t do it the traditional way with a win and a loss, but two points is two points. And at 0-0-2, the Bruins got two points. Of course, if you want to argue that they should be coming back home with more, I’m not going to fight you. The Bruins were up 5-1 in the second period of last Sunday’s Stadium Series game at Raymond James Stadium, and they blew that game. And they were even up through 20 minutes of play against the Panthers, and had a chance to score a go-ahead power-play goal late in the third period and let that chance slip.

The other side of the coin here is that the Bruins were going against the hottest team in the NHL in Tampa, and then turning around to play a Panthers team quite literally playing for their playoff lives right now. Easy? Nothing was going to be easy for the Bruins on this trip, and you were stupid for thinking they could simply walk in and grab four points.

“You can look at it a bunch of different ways, it all depends on the way you want it, right?” Pastrnak said following Wednesday’s shootout loss. “At the end of the day, we got two out of four points against our division rivals. Yes, [in] both games we could’ve gotten more, but we didn’t, and that’s the way it is. I think both of them were really good games. Yes, we would like to squeeze an extra point out of them, but [with] both losses being in the shootout, that just shows you how tight this Atlantic is.” 

B’s head coach Marco Sturm had a similar feeling on the two-game trek.

“They’re the Stanley Cup champions here [in Florida], and Tampa being the hottest team in the league, and we survived,” Sturm said postgame Wednesday night. “So, I give my guys to this point, a lot of credit.”

It’s also interesting how the path to a shootout loss can make you feel about said shootout loss. Sunday’s loss in Tampa? Gross. Nasty. Swamp water. But Wednesday in Florida? Overcoming a multi-goal deficit in the third period, and getting some absolutely gigantic saves from Joonas Korpisalo and strong defensive plays to stay alive? That’s the good stuff.

“Absolutely, and it’s been like this all year long, and I knew these guys were going to answer somehow,” Sturm said of his team’s third-period push to earn at least one point against the Panthers. “They’re not going to give up. Very proud of my guys, and it was a big point.”

These are also points that the Bruins were finding ways to not get when the year began. When the Bruins first played the Lightning this year back in Boston, they dug themselves way too deep a hole and though they made it a one-goal game, they whiffed on numerous opportunities to tie the game and send it to overtime. Same for Boston’s first meeting with Florida, which saw the B’s surrender a game-losing goal with under 30 seconds left in regulation of a then-tied game.

These points matter. And while you’ll always want more, something always beats nothing, especially in this crowded playoff race.

Here are some other thoughts that crossed my mind driving from Tampa to Sunrise before later getting dragged kicking and screaming onto a plane back to Hoth (I mean Boston)…

Shootout woes frustrating Sturm

Feb 1, 2026; Tampa Bay, Florida, USA; David Pastrnak reacts after missing during a shootout in the 2026 Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium. (Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images)

As a general rule of thumb, I can’t get too high or too low with shootouts.

I’m not going to tell you how to feel about them, but losing a shootout has always felt a bit too much like losing a game of heads or tails for me to lose my mind about it. But the end results can and do matter, and speaking on Wednesday, Sturm sounded like a coach who’s beyond ready to demand more out of his top scoring threats in the shootout.

After the Bruins went 0-for-3 in the shootout on Sunday night, Sturm decided to change it up on Wednesday. He opened with Viktor Arvidsson, then turned to Marat Khusnutdinov, Charlie McAvoy, and then closed with Casey Mittelstadt. (Not gonna lie, the first two selections had me thinking Sturm was going by height.) But had it not been for Sergei Bobrovsky’s leg, the Bruins would’ve gone 0-for-4.

One noticeable absence from Boston’s shootout lineup? Pastrnak. And Sturm was seemingly ready for that question, too.

“I didn’t see him score yet,” Sturm said of not picking Pastrnak in the shootout. “So, that’s something. Our top guys, I (haven’t) see them score yet. That’s gonna be something on us, too, just to try and help them out and see what we can do better to score some [shootout] goals.” 

To Sturm’s point, the Bruins have scored just three shootout goals on 18 shootout attempts this season. The three goals have come from Arvidsson, Khusnutdinov, and Mittelstadt. At the top of the roster, Pastrnak is 0-for-2, Morgan Geekie is 0-for-2, Elias Lindholm is 0-for-1.

And among the 31 teams to have at least one shootout this season (the Mammoth still don’t have one, which is kind of nuts), the B’s 16.7 percent shooting percentage is the third-worst, trailing only the Oilers (14.3 percent) and Jets (12.5 percent). The worst part about that is actually what’s happened at the other end of the rink, as Boston’s netminders have done what they can to keep the Bruins in shootouts, with an .800 shootout save percentage, which is seventh-best in the NHL.

“They’re big points, I’m not going to lie,” Sturm said of the shootout loss. “You can see now those points are big. And unfortunately, twice we’ve come up short in the shootout. That’s where we have to get better, too, because at the end of the day, you might need them.”

One second guess from Wednesday’s shootout? Why no Mikey Eyssimont? He had two breakaway goals during regulation after all.

Swayman picked worst time for fight

TAMPA, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 01: Jeremy Swayman reacts after fighting Andrei Vasilevskiy during the 2026 Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium. (Mike Carlson/Getty Images)

Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman has fiending for a goalie fight. For years now. So, in a way, you can’t blame him for accepting it on the biggest stage possible. I mean, what’s better than that? And if you were in the building that night, you realized what a gigantic pop it got. Even the press box erupted when they saw what was about to go down.

But in a cruel twist of fate, it also turned out to be the absolute worst time for Swayman to accept the fight. And the Bruins paid for it.

Swayman fighting Andrei Vasilevskiy gave a dead Lightning team some undeniable juice. And it brought Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, with more Lightning fans than Bruins fans in attendance, back to life. And once the Bolts’ freight train of momentum got going, it was tough for the Bruins to get themselves back to center. The energy was just different, and you could feel it, really beginning with that goalie fight.

After the loss, Swayman said that his fighting days are probably over. And that may be for the best given how it all unraveled post fight.

What’s next for Matt Poitras?

Feb 4, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Matthew Poitras (51) moves the puck against Anton Lundell (15) during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro/Imagn Images)

Truth be told, I’m not sure why exactly Matt Poitras was up with the Bruins for this most recent three-game run. And I mean that in the most general way possible. I don’t know if this was a case of the Bruins simply needing a center, feeling that Poitras had earned a look from his play down in Providence, or if this was a potential trade showcase. It may very well be a mix of all three colliding at the right time for the sides.

But he remains an interesting case for the Black and Gold. You could argue that Poitras has been surpassed on the depth chart by Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten (more on him in a bit) over the last calendar year. Veteran additions like Arvidsson and Mittelstadt have also eaten into potential minutes, both at center and on the wing (the Bruins tried that a bit last year), for Poitras. And it may get more complicated for Poitras’ fit when James Hagens turns pro (likely later this year).

So, in a crowded roster picture, where can Poitras separate himself?

One thing that you’ve noticed more with Poitras of late has been his nudging towards being more of an agitator type, both in Providence and in his NHL looks. He still sticks his nose in there, and is able to draw penalties. And if he’s paired with ‘bodyguard’ wingers like Mark Kastelic and Tanner Jeannot like he was before Wednesday’s move back to the AHL, he may be able to truly tap into that side of his game.

“I’m not trying to be a big agitator, that’s not really me, but sometimes emotions get the best out of you, and maybe I was being a little bit of a pest in Providence,” Poitras told 985thesportshub.com ahead of Wednesday’s game. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to get under people’s skin. I think I’ve always been a guy who draws penalties.

“It does lead to some drawn penalties, but it also leads to me getting punched in the face, which isn’t very fun, so it’s about finding a balance.”

The next challenge for Fraser Minten

Feb 1, 2026; Tampa Bay, Florida, USA; Darren Raddysh goes against Fraser Minten during the 2026 Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium. (Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images)

I’m not sure if there was a day on this road trip where Sturm was not asked about Fraser Minten and his success with the Bruins. (Canadian media loves Florida in the winter for the weather, I love it for the Checkers menu of pure greasy garbage, we are not the same.)

But Wednesday night in Sunrise saw the Minten Hype Train hit its first bump in some time, as the Bruins had to ease back on his minutes.

Centering Boston’s top power-play unit with both Lindholm and Zacha out, Minten lost that gig by the third period of the 5-4 shootout loss. It was a decision that immediately paid off for the Bruins when Mittelstadt (who took Minten’s spot) tied things up, but also one that Sturm wanted to stress was not necessarily a punishment-centric decision.

“Two things: We just couldn’t win a faceoff, and we felt like Minten was getting tired,” Sturm said postgame. “He’s played a lot of minutes, and we’ve put a lot on this kid. So we just felt, the [power play] before we had almost done it, we waited one more and it was just the right time. He just struggled at faceoffs and he was tired.” 

If there’s one thing you have to like about the break, it’s that guys like Minten will get a much-needed break. But when he does come back, you’re still going to need to see how he combats the proverbial “rookie wall.” That first full 82 against grown men is a challenge for any young player, and I remember one NHLer telling me their proverbial gas tank was ‘basically empty’ by March in his first full year as an NHLer.

But this will be part of the process for the 21-year-old standout. Iron sharpens the iron, and Minten will need to go through some challenging moment. And the B’s will need to know when to stick with him and when to reel him in and go with a different look without breaking confidence.

“It’s really good for him,” Sturm said of some adversity. “The one on our power play where we got scored on, the 2-on-1, that’s his guy. And he went to the wrong guy, but those are moments under pressure when you’re tired, he’s making those mistakes right now. It’s actually not bad for the kid, because he needs to learn the hard way sometimes.

“We just gotta be careful, too. We’ve put a lot [on him] with Lindholm and Zacha out, he’s played a lot of minutes. But it’s all good for him.” 

This was playoff-style hockey

Feb 1, 2026; Tampa Bay, Florida, USA; The Bruins and Lightning scuffle during the 2026 Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium. (Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images)

The Bruins are and will continue to be a blood and guts kind of team.

They’re going to have to grind teams down, and really hope that their physicality and their relentlessness (even when it looks like they should be getting destroyed by a skill team) just wears an opponent out in a seven-game series. It’s honestly their best possible chance in the now.

Which makes the Bruins’ performance in this difficult two-game trip down to Florida notable, and why I keep finding myself coming back to this one Sturm quote following the Stadium Series loss to the Lightning.

“They were just better than us after the whistle,” Sturm said of the Lightning. “I don’t think they were better than us today hockey-wise. But they were better than us after the whistle. They’re not tougher than us.”

To me, that seems like an ‘unfinished business’ kind of quote from Sturm, and that he thinks this Bruins team could get the Bolts to crack with repeated exposure to the B’s irritating ways. And it’s an identity that could be enough to allow the Bruins to sneak into the postseason and really fluster an opponent, much like the Blue Jackets in 2019.

“I’m definitely happy where we are,” Pastrnak said following the pre-Olympic schedule. “We are in the playoffs right now, and honestly, before the season if you said that heading into the break we were going to be a playoff spot, I think we’d all take it. We are in a good spot, and we’ve put ourself in a good spot for the last 20-or-so games left.”