There was no Zdeno Chara, he’s in Washington. There was no Torey Krug, he’s in St. Louis. And the Bruins won in a shootout.

It’s a new day, yes, it is.

The Bruins kicked off their 2020-21 season with a 3-2 shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils Thursday night. The two teams will meet in New Jersey again Saturday afternoon.

Things certainly have changed for the Bruins as they enter a condensed 56-game season. While some old faces are in new places, and some youth has been injected into the lineup, a previously troubling trend was no issue Thursday night.

Last season the shootout was a thorn in the Bruins side as they went 0-7 in the shootout. They were one of two teams without a shootout win while leading the league in shootout losses.

But it was a different story Thursday night as Brad Marchand’s lone goal of the shootout gave the Bruins a 3-2 victory.

"The shootout was a problem for us last year. Hopefully we can be better. We were tonight," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "We let a lead get away in the third period and that's not a road we want to go down. We had a bit of that stuff happen to us last year.”

David Pastrnak and Craig Smith both missed the contest with injuries while Kevan Miller appeared in his first game in 651 days. Youngsters like Jack Studnicka, Jeremy Lauzon, Trent Frederic and Jakub Zboril all logged key minutes for a Bruins team that should be an intriguing one this year.

“It was awesome to see [Miller] back. We all know how hard of a road he’s had the last year and a half. A lot of guys would have quit and would have just hung them up. And with how hard he pushed to get back and what he had to go through and his resiliency, I think that’s what everyone was looking forward to tonight, watching him back on the ice,” Marchand said.

“I mean, from the second he stepped on the ice in camp, you can see that fire in his eyes and it’s fun to watch him out there. He’s such a big part of our team on and off the ice. It was great, we wanted to win for him tonight.”

Marchand got things started for the Bruins with a first period power play goal, a nice sign for a power play unit without it’s top two power play point getters (Krug and Pastrnak) from a season ago.

Tied at one in the third, the Bruins would add a second power play tally to the books, this one coming off the stick of Nick Ritchie.

"We rely on it and clearly we needed it,” Cassidy said of the power play.

“Our 5-on-5 scoring in the first period, plenty of opportunities that were missed. We moved Ritchie in front. A little bit of that was the 4-on-4 before that. We had [Charlie] Coyle out. We were planning on putting [Marchand] on the half wall and Coyle in front for the third period, just a little adjustment we saw.”

After cruising through two period where he really wasn’t challenged too much, seeing just 11 shots total, Tuukka Rask had a solid third period and even better overtime session, halting two Devils breakaway attempts.

"Every shot was kind of half breakaway or some kind of a deflection off something, obviously end of the third period, overtime, tight game, you kind of feel like you deserve the win,” said Rask. “Was hoping to make a couple saves."

After partaking in morning skate Thursday, Smith was unable to go against the Devils due to a lower-body injury. Smith practiced on the Bruins third line Friday and is expected to be a game-time decision for Saturday.

"I don't know about Smith. He'll be day-to-day, it's a lower-body,” said Cassidy. “Quick turnaround Saturday afternoon so we'll see how he is [on Friday].”

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