Swayman shines, Bruins ride balanced effort to 6-1 rout of Mammoth

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Oct 8, 2026

Published in Hockey

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BOSTON — The Bruins did not demonstrate a traditional formula for winning on Thursday at TD Garden. Through two periods, they started very slowly, took six minors (seven in all) against a power play that had gone 8 for 13 to start the season and were being outshot by the Utah Mammoth by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio.

But goaltending matters, as do special teams. The Bruins excelled at both and the Mammoth did not. As a result, the B’s scored a lopsided 6-1 victory over Utah that could have easily gone off the rails if not for Jeremy Swayman (36 saves) being on top of his game.

The netminder was not the only thing that went right for the B’s. The power play, the source of so much consternation coming into the game, produced three goals and the penalty kill killed all seven of the Mammoth’s advantages. The big guns showed up. David Pastrnak had a four-point game (2-2), Morgan Geekie notched three points (1-2-3) while Matt Poitras, fighting to stay in the lineup, notched a goal and assist.

The Bruins went into the game with three of their four lines jumbled. Only the fourth line of Tanner Jeannot, Matt Poitras and Mark Kastelic remained the same.

Right off the bat, it was not pretty. On the first two shifts, the Bruins turned the puck over to Vincent Trocheck, who on one the former Ranger shot over the net and Swayman made a good stop on the other.

The B’s also took the first penalty of the game, a slashing call to Jeannot. For the most part the B’s did a good job killing it, though Swayman had to come up with two big saves on chances that were produced by a stretch play.

This one was shaping up as a worse night than their loss against Ottawa on Monday. But then? The B’s started to get some shots on Sebastian Cossa. And the puck kept going in.

The B’s scored three times in 5:45, chasing Cossa in favor of No. 1 goalie Karel Vejmelka. The first one came at 10:06 when the new third line cashed in. Elias Lindholm knocked down a clear attempt out high on the left side and James Hagens fed it down to Casey Mittelstadt, who beat Cossa with a short side wrist shot from the dot for his first.

Then the B’s finally broke through on the power play after 10 unsuccessful tries. Geekie tapped a Lindholm faceoff win over to Frederic Brunet, who dished it down to Pastrnak. Pastrnak snapped a shot from high in the right circle that managed to find its way behind Cossa at 14:22. It was Pastrnak’s first of the season and the first career NHL point for Brunet.

Finally at 15:51, Mason Lohrei did one of his toe-drag specials and managed to beat Cossa with a wrist shot.

Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny had seen enough and sent Vejmelka to relieve Cossa.

This one didn’t feel over, however. The Mammoth held a 17-9 shot advantage in the first and were not having too much difficulty in getting scoring chances.

Utah came out firing again to start the second but Swayman stood tall.

The B’s then made the Mammoth pay for a Trocheck penalty away from the play. On a familiar looking play, Geekie wired a right-to-left cross-ice pass and Pastrnak unloaded a one-timer that beat Vejmelka to the short side at 4:40.

The good-time nostalgia continued on the next power play. This time it was Pastrnak returning the favor to Geekie, who drilled home the captain’s cross-ice pass for his first of the year at 7:57.

The B’s themselves had been parading to the penalty box. They took a whopping five minors in the second and after they had just killed Will Borgen’s second of three penalties, the B’s struck again. Off a quick odd-man rush, Pastrnak fed Poitras and the 22-year-old snapped it over Vejmelka’s glove to give the B’s a half dozen.

The B’s could not secure the shut out as former Boston College forward Jack McBain scored on a deflection midway through the third, but the game was long over at that point.