Bruins lose two straight after NHL-best start, top line under scrutiny
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The gist
The Boston Bruins lost 2-1 to Carolina and 4-1 to St. Louis after winning seven of eight.
Boston's top line is being out-chanced, and coach Marco Sturm may shake it up.
Background
The Boston Bruins are an NHL team, and Marco Sturm is their head coach. They entered the Oct. 27 game in Raleigh with the second-best record in the NHL behind the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes, having won seven of their previous eight games. The concern now centers on the top line of David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha and JJ Peterka, which had been together just under 50 minutes of five-on-five play this season and had been outshot 31-16 and out-chanced 30-20 despite starting nearly 60 percent of its shifts in the offensive zone.
How it unfolded
- Oct 24, 2026Boston beat the San Jose Sharks 6-4 at TD Garden to sweep the season series, having won seven of its last eight games.
- Oct 27, 2026The Bruins (9-3-1) lost 2-1 to the Hurricanes (10-2-2) in Raleigh in a matchup of the NHL's two best records; Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake scored against Jeremy Swayman.
- Oct 27, 2026The Peterka-Zacha-Pastrnak line was out-attempted 19-6 and outshot 12-2 in 12:07 of five-on-five time, while Carolina held a 14-1 edge in scoring chances.
- Oct 28, 2026Head coach Marco Sturm faced questions about shaking up his top line after the loss.
- Oct 29, 2026Rookie defenseman Frederic Brunet was scratched, and Boston lost 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues, with Robert Thomas and Philip Broberg posting three points each.
- Oct 31, 2026The Bruins are scheduled to host the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden at 1 p.m.
Who’s saying what
- Coach
- Sturm called Carolina "the team you want to beat" and said the Hurricanes are "already in championship form right now."
- Coach
- Sturm said the team played its game for 60 minutes on the road and that its speed is much stronger this year.
- Player
- Pastrnak called the road trip tough and said the team "didn't play to our standard," with the takeaway being to improve the next day after wins.
Still unverified
A report headline states that Nikita Kucherov has made a trade request and that it could be great news for the Bruins; the excerpt does not detail the request.