Peterka wastes little time making mark, scores game-winning goal in Bruins debut

BOSTON – The crowd noise had barely died down -- the first goal of the game, of the season, having just been scored by Boston Bruins forward Fraser Minten with 3:46 left to go on Tuesday night -- when Elias Lindholm sent a soft little feed to JJ Peterka.

The wing, his stick outstretched, crossed the TD Garden blue line with two New York Rangers defenders between him and the net. Braden Schneider closed in, but Peterka took the puck from the outside to the inside, through his legs. Alberts Smits, in his first career NHL game, got caught behind, and so there was Peterka with open ice, bearing down on Igor Shesterkin through the left face-off circle.

He snapped the shot off once he’d reached the slot, beating Shesterkin through the legs at 17:06 of the third period, a stunner of a goal, putting the game out of reach for the Rangers in what would eventually be a 3-0 loss. 

“That’s why we got him, right?” coach Marco Sturm quipped. 

Indeed.

It stood as the first goal of Peterka’s career as a member of the Boston Bruins, three months after a trade on the first night of the 2026 NHL Draft brought the forward from the Utah Mammoth to Boston. It was a trade that the Bruins hoped would help streamline the revamping of a franchise that was slowly recovering from a dearth of prospects and young players after a decade-plus of pushing for the Stanley Cup. 

On Opening Night, he showed why. 

“That was nasty,” Minten said. “That was a really nice goal. He’s got sick hands, sick skills, so nice to see JJ get one. First game too.”

Peterka is a player who knows how to score goals. He’s scored at least 25 in each of the past three seasons, and another 25 would be a healthy addition to the Bruins' offense. But Boston acquired Peterka because he brings an element they didn’t have, the speed and skill and youth that they desperately need, as well as the promise at 24 years old of still being more. 

They’re hoping that Peterka can improve on the 47 points (25 goals, 22 assists) he scored in 82 games in his single season with the Mammoth and get closer to – or surpass – the 68 points (27 goals, 41 assists) he had in 77 games the season prior with the Buffalo Sabres. 

He is off to a good start. 

“It was just nice to see because, first of all, he had some really good chances preseason, even at practice, and then to make a move like this today and actually finish the way he did, I think it really hopefully helps him moving forward,” Sturm said.

“I also know as a new guy on a new team in a new city, playing at home, you want to be good and you want to be the guy. I think that part was really nice too because he scored at the right time. I think he showed everyone that you got me here for a reason.”

And they responded. 

“It was crazy,” Peterka said of the crowd pop at his goal. “They were so loud already when we got introduced, so fired up, and then scoring a goal like that, in a building like that, yeah, was just unbelievable.”

Peterka, so far, has gotten what he wanted when he was traded to Boston -- a chance to play opposite David Pastrnak on the top line. It has the makings of a dynamic trio, one with the potential to do some damage, even to one of the NHL’s best goalies, in an on-his-game Shesterkin.

“I think speed, transition, also in zone-keeping possession, making a lot of plays,” Peterka said of the strengths of that line. “Just exciting overall. I think whenever we’re out there, we can make something happen. It’s fun to be a part of.”

There were more than a few good signs for the Bruins on Tuesday in their NHL record-setting 11th consecutive Opening Night win at home: There was Jeremy Swayman, who earned a 24-save shutout, outdueling Shesterkin. There was Minten, adding the crunch time offensive flare to the defensively mature game that earned him a seven-year, $50.4 million contract extension ($7.2 million average annual value) on Sept. 8. There was a defense that found its structure, even with Charlie McAvoy serving the first of his six-game suspension for his actions in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. There was Pastrnak, the 'C' affixed to his chest for the first time.

And there was Peterka, notching his first goal in his first game as a member of the Boston Bruins. 

“Oh man, he’s silky,” Swayman said. “I’m glad he’s on our team now. That’s a goal scorer’s goal and just the whole way it developed. Obviously the crowd’s still buzzing from the first one and he just knew we had a job to do. So that’s a ton of credit to him and shows what kind of player he can be.”