Harrison's Two Goals Secure Bruins' Preseason Win vs. Capitals

WASHINGTON –– Marco Sturm stood by the podium at Warrior Ice Arena and answered questions ahead of the Boston Bruins’ exhibition game against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

The head coach was asked about Brett Harrison, the 22-year-old forward who was set to make his preseason debut that night.

​“We wanted to give him a shot because he’s worked extremely hard this camp so far,” Sturm said. “I like his effort, I like his attitude, he’s a good kid. Every time in practice, a drill, you name it – he will give you everything. That is why we want to reward him.”​

Harrison lived up to Sturm’s description in the Bruins’ 3-1 showing at Capital One Arena, scoring twice to help secure the win.

​“It was good to get my first preseason game,” Harrison said. “All the practices and playing with the NHL guys in practice really gets you into game shape. Coming into this game, I was feeling good about my game.”

Boston did not strike until the second period; Joonas Korpisalo held his team in the competition until the production came on the other end of the ice. The goaltender stopped 17 of 18 shots on goal and finished the night with 33 saves.

“He was awesome. He’s been great. He came up big for us there,” said Riley Tufte, who had the Bruins’ first tally. “Especially in big moments in the game there. He definitely kept us alive.”

While Jeremy Swayman remains the expected No. 1 guy for Boston in net, Korpisalo said he will take the season game by game, stay true to himself and be ready whenever he is called upon.

“We need him. If you look at the schedule, and I’ve said it before, we need all the guys and especially our goalies, too,” Sturm said. “For sure, there won’t be one guy playing eight games in a row. That’s not going to happen. It is going to be both of them who have to carry us.”​

The only puck that got past Korpisalo was off of Ryan Leonard’s stick at 9:42 of the first. The former Boston College Eagle – and linemate of James Hagens, the Bruins’ 2025 seventh overall pick – knocked in the rebound of Jakob Chychrun’s shot for the 1-0 lead.​

Tufte tied the game 1-1 with an extra-effort play at 16:16 of the second period. The forward battled Vincent Iorio as the Washington defenseman moved towards his own net for the puck, but Tufte poke-checked it past Charlie Lindgren instead.

“Just tried to work as best as I could to beat their defenseman and get a stick on it at least. Probably one of the easier goals as far as just poking it in,” Tufte said. “I think, for the most part, our team tried to play simple tonight. Obviously, they had some big guns in their lineup and we kind of had to grind that one out, and we did. It was great for us.”

​Tufte skated on the second line with Johnny Beecher and Mark Kastelic on Thursday. The 27-year-old had 42 points (21 goals, 21 assists) in 58 games with the Providence Bruins last season.

The Bruins soon earned their first advantage of the night thanks to Harrison. The 2021 third-round pick broke the puck into the zone before releasing a wrist shot down low to make it 2-1 at 19:11. Harrison was on the third line with Patrick Brown and Riley Duran against the Capitals and had a total 10:36 of ice time.

Harrison’s empty-net goal at 18:46 of the final frame brought the matchup to its final 3-1 standing. Brown assisted on both of Harrison’s scoring plays.

“We talked about it during the first intermission – don’t be afraid. Just go out there and play the game and compete,” Sturm said. “It’s all competing. That’s all what it is. There’s nothing really pretty about anything, but they had the mindset that they wanted to go to the net and sure enough, they got rewarded.”

Boston’s final preseason game will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday at TD Garden against the New York Rangers. The Bruins will return to Capital One Arena on Oct. 8 to open the regular season against Washington.