BOSTON -- The memory of how everything went so very wrong is fresh in the minds of the Boston Bruins, visceral, so it has been notable how they have spoken throughout training camp, in the early start to the season, with a lightness, a gratefulness, a hopefulness.
There is, of course, still a long way to go for a team that finished tied for the fifth-worst record in the NHL (33-39-10) in 2024-25, one that many picked to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight season.
But so far, so good.
The Bruins are three games -- and three wins -- into their 2025-26 campaign, with a new coach at the helm in Marco Sturm and a refreshed take on what they need to do to be successful, especially minus all of the talent that went out the door prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7.
"There's a lot to build on," forward Pavel Zacha said. "I'm excited for that."
They'll get a chance for a bigger test when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit TD Garden on Monday (1 p.m. ET; The Spot, NHLN, NESN, TVAS) ahead of a tricky road trip where they visit the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and Utah Mammoth, all teams expected to contend this season.
Whatever happens in each individual game, the outcome, or however long this winning streak lasts, the Bruins see glimpses of what they're working for and toward, glimpses of who they want to be and a growing understanding of what they need to do to get there.
"Everyone is excited to play and everyone works," Sturm said. "We're a family. That's what family [does], we support each other, we help each other. That was our message. I think that you guys, we feel it, the crowd, I think they can see it. Does it always end up with a win? No. But it doesn't matter what's going to happen. We want to stick together. That's our identity, going back to identity, that's what we want to have. And it's fun playing that way."
It's even more fun when wins are the result.
Unlike last season. After the Bruins won two of their first three games, things quickly went downhill and by the end of October they were 4-6-1 and headed down a path that saw coach Jim Montgomery fired Nov. 19. It didn't get better after that.
This is a different group, an objectively less talented group, but perhaps one with a greater understanding of who they are that, so far, is working. They showed it in a 3-1 win on home ice against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday without Hampus Lindholm, a defenseman who is day to day because of a lower-body injury.
"It's fun to be around those guys, because they care and they buy in and they want to get better," Sturm said. "[Against the Sabres], I think that's Bruins hockey right there, with the crowd behind us."
They have talked about that buy-in through the past month, the approach from a team that wants desperately to succeed where it failed last season, a different kind of energy they have felt since they returned in Boston at the end of the summer.
"I think we've been building since Day 1 of training camp," goalie Jeremy Swayman said. "Really excited about, obviously having Marco, but excited for just a fresh start. That's something we need to prove every day. It's been really fun to be a part of it."
It begins, perhaps, with Swayman, who is coming off a season when he missed training camp in a contract standoff and never found his footing, leading to the worst numbers of his NHL career. He finished with a 3.11 goals-against average and .892 save percentage. In two games so far this season, he has allowed only two goals and has a .966 save percentage.
"It's excellent to have a training camp under me and start off with this group and really bond from Day 1," Swayman said. "I'm loving every second of it."
They understand that they are unlikely to win high-scoring games, so a focus on defense and penalty killing, goaltending and being smart with the puck have been priorities. They have been perfect in 12 chances on the penalty kill after finishing last season 24th in the NHL (76.3 percent).
"I mean, if it's 2-1 games that we have to play to win, and then we're going to have to do that," Bruins president Cam Neely said last week.
So far, they are.
It's entirely possible that this could be the high point for the Bruins, three games in. It's hard to predict who they are and what they will be over 82 games, but what's easy to see is that they feel easier now, less tense and/or worried.
There's not much to lose in a season when few believe outside of yourselves.
"I don't look that far," Sturm said. "I go game by game pretty much, but I didn't know what really to expect either, to be honest. We had a decent preseason, but I knew we still have work to do, but these guys came out really on fire in Washington (a 3-1 win on Wednesday) and that kind of carried over right away. Now, slowly, they know what we worked on, what I want, and all that kind of stuff, we kind of came together.
"Yes, we're 3-0, but I just go game by game. Definitely going to take those wins, and go from there."
