The Penguins did it with their new coach last night and the Bruins believe they can come thru similarly for their new boss, Marco Sturm, who makes his debut behind the bench at Cap One tonight. The Bruins figure to be nothing but uncompromising, with a physical defensive presence, which always wasn't the case last season, partly due to injuries. Now, however, a healthy Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm in front of Jeremy Swayman when on the ice suggests the Bruins might be tough to break down, if nothing else. Some NHL observers believe the Caps are the team most likely to back up after being fueled by Alex Ovechkin's goal-scoring record season-long charge for last term. Play Bruins on Money Line

Well, I WAS excited for the return of the NHL, then last night happened. Crikey! Yeah, you have to actually score to win in the league. I don't expect Washington to have such a great regular season again, but Boston is a shell of its former self after a trade off last year and missing the playoffs when it was 12 games under .500 away. It is also under a new coach. How about an Alex Ovechkin hat trick to reach 900 regular-season goals? I generally love backing teams in their home openers but neither the Rangers nor Kings got the memo on Tuesday.