BOSTON – Here are five thoughts from the first period with the Bruins and Red Wings scoreless after the first 20 minutes of preseason action at TD Garden.
1) Not a lot of offense going on at ole TD Garden tonight. Both Boston and Detroit have five shots on net apiece, and Chris Kelly has two out of the five shots for the Bruins. That’s a sure sign that the offense has been clamped down. There are some new pieces skating on veteran lines, and that may have something to do with the flow not exactly being there.
2) Not much from either Frank Vatrano or Austin Czarnik in that opening 20 minutes given a chance playing with some talented linemates for tonight.
3) David Pastrnak has two hits and a blocked shot, and no shots on net. I guarantee you will not see that in a box score after any first period once the regular season gets started.
4) Good start for Tuukka Rask, who didn’t see much early but did have a challenging save on Drew Miller right out of the starting gate. Miller broke across the net away from defensive coverage, and fired a good quality shot in close on Rask, but the B’s goaltender was coolly able to turn it away.
5) Patrice Bergeron won 7-of-8 face-offs in the first period. Good to see some things are exactly back to normal for the Black and Gold as they should be.