Bruins shut out Blackhawks, equal best start in their history at 6-0-0

CHICAGO -- The Boston Bruins equaled the best start to a season in their history with a 3-0 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday.

The Bruins are 6-0-0, matching the record set by the 1937-38 Boston team. Jeremy Swayman made 23 saves for his first shutout of the season and the 10th in the NHL.

“It’s special,” Swayman said. “It’s important for us moving forward. We knew we had a challenge ahead of us, coming to the West Coast, time change, everything that you could find excuses for, but I think we used it to our advantage. It’s a lot of momentum moving forward.”

The Bruins finished a four-game road trip, the first three on the West Coast. 

“Loved the results,” said Boston coach Jim Montgomery. “Love our goaltending. Starting to see our team identity build because I think the L.A. game [a 4-2 victory on Saturday] and this game tonight, you’re starting to see us become a heavy, grinding team, which I think is what we’re going to have to be.”

The Blackhawks (2-5-0) lost their third straight and have been shut out in two of those three games. Petr Mrazek made 40 saves.

“We were good for most of the game,” Chicago defenseman Jarred Tinordi said. “We have some lapses in our play, especially these last two games, that other teams have been able to capitalize on. We're playing good teams right now, and that's what good teams do. We have stretches where we're playing good hockey, and we have one or two slips where have five-minute little lulls in our game, and it ends up costing us.”

Chicago’s Connor Bedard had an apparent power-play goal overturned at 6:44 of the first period after Boston challenged for offside. Video review determined that Andreas Athanasiou did not keep the puck in the zone on a previous play, resulting in offside. Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, had no shots on goal in 18:08 of ice time. 

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said of the overturned goal. “But it always happens to both teams throughout the year in a game. We reacted OK after that and continued to play, but I don’t know. They’re a hard team and I’m kind of at the point, I’m tired, one year is enough of a hard-working team. We want to push for more this year. I think we start off with a good intention, but I find the other teams, not outwork us like work ethic-wise, but I want to say the hardness of the work, you know what I mean, like physical 1-on-1 battles.”

Pavel Zacha gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 3:50 of the second period when he tipped in Kevin Shattenkirk’s shot from the right point. It was Zacha’s first goal of the season.

“It was good,” Zacha said. “I just kept working. Stick with it. Try to do the right things and hope it’s going to go there. It was a great shot from [Shattenkirk], too. He saw me in front and just shot it for me. It was an easy tip.”

Matthew Poitras scored his third goal in two games at 4:06 of the third period. The 19-year-old forward moved in on a breakaway and put a forehand shot past Mrazek. Morgan Geekie sprung Poitras with the pass that led to the breakaway. 

“I was coming up high in the zone because I kind of thought they had three up high,” Poitras said. “[Geekie] made a great play. The puck kind of squirted out. I saw a lot of open ice. Just skated as fast as I can. I was fortunate to pull away and got the back of the net.”

Trent Frederic made it 3-0 at 5:02, putting in a backhand pass from James van Riemsdyk from in front of the net.

NOTES: Boston’s Jakub Lauko left the game at 10:44 of the third period after being cut near the left eye by the skate of the Blackhawks’ Jason Dickinson. “Lauko’s good, thankfully,” Montgomery said. “Scary with the skate, but he got it in the corner of the eye. It’s good. Nothing touched the eye. Stitched up. Not going to be looking good for a while.” … Bruins forward Milan Lucic left the morning skate early and did not play. He was hit in the leg by a shot during the win against the Kings on Saturday. He did not play on Sunday at the Anaheim Ducks. … The Blackhawks placed forward Taylor Hall on injured reserve because of a shoulder injury. They activated forward Philipp Kurashev off IR. Kurashev played in his first game after being out with a wrist injury. He was minus-1 in 17:45 of ice time.