Bruins Sit Atop the Atlantic at 8-2-1, and the Backup Goalie Nobody Talked About Has a .941 Save Percentage

Here's a sentence I did not expect to type in October: the Boston Bruins lead the Atlantic Division, and their backup goalie is one of the hottest guys on the roster. Boston is 8-2-1 with 17 points, first in the Atlantic, heading into Saturday's 7 p.m. game against the San Jose Sharks at TD Garden. It's the second and last meeting of the season between the two.

The Bruins came home Thursday from a long western trip, where they took points in four straight games, going 3-0-1. First games back from the road are usually sludge. This one wasn't. They beat the Nashville Predators 6-0, their first home game since Oct. 10. "What I liked about most, other than Mikey's shutout, is that we came out with energy," coach Marco Sturm said.

Mikey is Michael DiPietro, and his story is the best thing in this building right now. He's 27. Before this season he had played seven NHL games since his 2019 debut. Last Friday in Anaheim he got his first career win. Thursday he stopped all 28 Nashville shots for his first career shutout. In three starts as Jeremy Swayman's backup, he's at a .941 save percentage. That is not a typo, and that is not normal backup production.

David Pastrnak did David Pastrnak things against Nashville, two goals and two assists, and he leads the team with six goals. But the depth is the real flex. Seventeen different Bruins have scored this season. Fraser Minten has four, two of them in a 6-3 win in San Jose on Oct. 13. Five different players scored on Thursday alone.

Then there's Charlie McAvoy. The trip lined up with his return from a six-game suspension, so Thursday was his first time on home ice this season. He assisted on Boston's first three goals and had four assists in all, which gives him six points in five games. "It's been a full team effort, and I was really proud of the guys and how they were able to not only keep it afloat, but a lot of guys to step up and really exceed while I was out," McAvoy said. Translation: the room held it together while the top defenseman sat, and now he's back and feeding everybody.

San Jose isn't a pushover anymore, at least on paper. The Sharks are 6-4-1 and come in on back-to-back wins, including their first regulation win of the season Thursday, 6-2 in Ottawa. But look under the hood. They got outshot 43-28 and needed a season-high 41 saves from Yaroslav Askarov, who snapped a four-start winless skid. "If it's not for him, we don't win the hockey game," coach Ryan Warsofsky said.

There's a lot of Massachusetts on that Sharks roster. Collin Graf, a Massachusetts native, had a goal and an assist in Ottawa. Macklin Celebrini, who played at Boston University, leads them with five goals and 14 points in nine games. Will Smith played at Boston College. And Adam Gaudette, the former Northeastern star, could get his first shot in the lineup this season. He has been a healthy scratch for seven games since coming off injured reserve.

Gaudette's opening is somebody else's bad luck. Top-line winger Igor Chernyshov, who had been skating with Celebrini and Smith, left Thursday's game late in the first period after blocking a slap shot off his arm. "I think he's going to be out here a little bit," Warsofsky said. "It's gonna hurt, but another opportunity for someone else."

My take: Boston should win this game, and that's exactly why it's a trap. Celebrini is a problem, Askarov can steal a night, and the Bruins are coming off the kind of 6-0 game that makes teams lazy. If DiPietro gets the start again, the question is whether his run is real or just a hot week. If Swayman goes, the question is whether the starter can match what the backup just did. Either way, watch McAvoy's minutes. When he's driving play like this, the Bruins look like the team at the top of the standings, not just a team that's there for now.

After Saturday, Boston heads back out for road games at Carolina on Tuesday and at St. Louis on Thursday.