The Boston Bruins will start their 2024-25 season on the road against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 8, 2024. Between now and then, management needs to finalize the roster, including extending Jeremy Swayman. The team must also play through the preseason, which begins on Sept. 22, 2024.
After a second-round bow out of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a team with championship aspirations must continue to build upon their recent regular season successes and advance back to the Final for the first time since 2019. With some notable additions to this season’s lineup, here’s a look at the five must-watch games of the Bruins’ 2024-25 season.
5. Oct. 26, 2024 at TD Garden vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
The Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs will not have to wait long to reignite their historical rivalry, facing off against one another just three weeks into the season on a Saturday night nonetheless. After Boston ended the Maple Leafs season in Game 7 of their first-round series in April, the two teams returned to the scene of David Pastrnak’s overtime winner for their first clash. The Bruins will look to continue their regular season undefeated streak against their Canadian rivals, which now stands at seven consecutive victories dating back to the 2022-23 season.
4. Nov. 9, 2024 at TD Garden vs. Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators have become a pest for the Bruins over the past two seasons. During Boston’s historical 65-win campaign in 2022-23, they lost only 12 times but twice against the Senators. The slumber rivalry between the former Northeast Division opponents has a new element; former Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark switched jerseys in the offseason. The former Bruins goalie is posed to face his former bear-hugging teammate Swayman in the first week of November on his old stomping grounds, TD Garden.
3. Jan. 20, 2025 at TD Garden vs. San Jose Sharks
The Bruins have long dominated their matchup against the San Jose Sharks, sporting a 30-12-5-0 record in 47 meetings. Ultimately, the only time these cross-continental games had any meaning was when Joe Thornton played in them since the former Boston captain was traded midseason in 2005, the year he would go on to win the Hart Trophy.
But, like the meeting with the Senators, a new player joins the matchup: first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini. The former Boston University star played one season in the Hub and won 15 honors and awards, including the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in NCAA hockey. Naturally, the first meeting between these teams occurs at TD Garden, where Celebrini played in the most recent Beanpot Final, losing to Northeastern 4-3 in overtime on Feb. 5, 2024.
2. Oct. 8, 2024 at Amerant Bank Arena vs. Florida Panthers
If losing to the Panthers in consecutive postseason runs wasn’t bad enough, the Bruins will not have to sit through the team’s Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony on Oct. 8, 2024, at Amerant Bank Arena. After defeating Boston in the first round in 2023, Florida advanced to the Final before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. Then, last season, the Panthers eliminated the Bruins in the second round, advanced to the Final again, but held on and defeated the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 to win their first championship. No love was lost between the two franchises, but now Boston must sit and watch a championship ceremony for a team that denied them a chance at a ring in consecutive years, which is more salt in an open wound.
1. Nov. 26, 2024 at TD Garden vs. Vancouver Canucks
The most important games between the Bruins and Vancouver Canucks took place in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. However, since then, the contests between East and West clubs weren’t necessarily games you’d circle on a calendar. But that all changed on the first day of free agency, as longtime Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk jumped ships to the Canucks, and Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov came to Beantown.
Since the contest takes place in front of the TD Garden, DeBrusk will get a brief welcome-back video and probably be booed for the rest of the game for leaving. Meanwhile, Lindholm and Zadorov will be out to prove that Vancouver should have retained their services after a playoff run to the second round.
Other Key Matchups
Every game against an Eastern Conference opponent will be enticing to watch, especially when Auston Matthews is on the ice, and the same goes for Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin as the future Hall of Famers chase down personal milestones. Of course, other superstars like Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon visit once a year, giving fans a glimpse at Western Conference hockey that most fans don’t stay up late to watch. As the Bruins enter their 101st season of operations and 14th season without another Stanley Cup victory, the 2024-25 lineup will be eager to return to the top of the NHL mountain.
