Bruins face bittersweet home opener vs. Devils

The Boston Bruins' return to TD Garden for their first home game of the season against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday is sure to be bittersweet.

Sweet like any home game, sure, but bitter is the memory of the Bruins' last competitive contest at the venue. The team lost at home in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues.

Boston has begun the new season with a strong showing on the road and will look to keep it going opposite winless New Jersey.

The Bruins lost 4-2 to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night, their first defeat following three straight victories to open the season. Thursday's game saw two Boston goals disallowed by video review, a frustrating end to an overall positive road trip.

"We felt like we had a good start," Bruins center David Krejci said. "Just a couple tough bounces. Overall six out of eight points is not bad. We feel in here that we easily could have had eight."

The biggest victim of the overturned scores was Jake DeBrusk, who had his first assist and goal of the season wiped off the board.

"Anytime that you get production finally and it gets taken away from you twice, it's just one of those things where you almost don't believe it," DeBrusk said. "But at the same time that's how things are going for me.

"I don't think it's gonna snowball, but definitely (ticking) me off for sure."

While DeBrusk is off to a slow start, the Bruins' top line of Brad Marchand (five points), David Pastrnak (five) and Patrice Bergeron (three) each had strong showings on the trip. Tuukka Rask, who has allowed four goals across two wins, is expected in net after getting helped off the ice in a victory Tuesday with cramping.

The Devils are still looking for their first win after falling 4-3 in a shootout against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. New Jersey has allowed 20 goals through its first four games, tied for second most in the league behind the San Jose Sharks' 21.

Taylor Hall came close to netting the Devils' first win when he hit the post in overtime against his former team in Edmonton. Despite the similar result, New Jersey coach John Hynes was encouraged by what he saw after his team was shut out by the Philadelphia Flyers the previous night.

"I commend our guys," Hynes said. "... Obviously, it was a tough loss last night but if you look at the way we competed and the way we played five-on-five, we played a lot to our identity. I think everybody on the team showed up on a gut-check game. If you look at that, that's certainly something to build on."

The Devils are still looking for their first power-play goal, failing on 11 chances thus far.

New Jersey starting goalie Cory Schneider allowed four goals in his last start against the Flyers on Wednesday. It was his first game after exiting the team's opener due to lower-body cramps.

--Field Level Media