The Bruins have gotten off to the start they were hoping for through two games, as they enter a big matchup with the Rangers Wednesday with a 2-0-0 record. 

It was assumed that the early part of the season would be telling; there figured to be generally sloppy play at first because teams and players were trying to get their chops back after a lockout and a quick training camp, but it honestly hasn’t been bad for the B’s. The first period of Saturday’s game was messy on both sides, but it tightened up. The Bruins’ defense, playing without Dennis Seidenberg Monday, had a few uncharacteristic breakdowns, but the blueline was strong for the rest of the game. Tuukka Rask’s been solid, allowing two goals and earning wins in his first two starts since taking over as the team’s No. 1 goalie. 

There’s been a lot of progress to be made after seeing the first 125 minutes (and a shootout) of the Bruins’ season, but the general impression is that there’s been a lot to like. 

Here’s what we know about the Bruins as they prepare for the Rangers:

Nathan Horton and friends haven’t lost a step: Through the first two games of the season, the Bruins’ best line has been the trio of David Krejci between Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. 

Lucic scored the team’s first goal of the season in Saturday’s win over the Rangers and then registered 10 hits Monday against the Jets. That’s not bad for a guy who was admittedly worried about how ready he was for games last week after not playing during the lockout. 

Krejci’s motor has been high, as he fired the shot that led to Lucic’s goal Saturday and set up Nathan Horton time and time again on Monday. Though the line didn’t produce a goal Monday, it has shown the Bruins everything they could have hoped to see after the trio was separated for nearly a year due to a Horton concussion and the lockout. They’ve played fast and they’ve played hard, while Horton, as he promised, hasn’t been the least bit timid despite coming off back-to-back season-ending concussions. 

“I like their play,” Claude Julien said after Monday’s win. “We said it before the season started, they were maybe a question mark because of the situation – one being out for a whole year and another not having played big bodies, and it can take a little bit longer to get yourself going. But that line has been really good. David’s done a great job in the middle, and those other two guys are using their speed their strength and they’re making things happen. I like their play. I think they’re very focused right now, and bringing something positive to the hockey club, and they’re making it happen.”

Dougie Hamilton is a bigger piece of the puzzle than initially expected: Julien caught all sorts of criticism for his handling of Tyler Seguin during the No. 2 overall pick’s rookie year, but here’s something that’s been forgotten as Seguin has blossomed into one of the league’s top offensive players: Seguin wasn’t ready for a big role as an 18-year-old rookie, and that’s why Julien limited him. 

It’s been a different story with Dougie Hamilton. Drafted a year after Seguin with the ninth overall pick in 2011, Hamilton is entering the league at 19 years of age and through two games has been trusted on the power play, penalty kill (briefly on Monday) and the top pairing with Zdeno Chara on Monday. The Bruins haven’t treated this rookie with kid gloves. To the contrary, they’ve made him an important part of their blueline. 

Consider this: Hamilton was last among Bruins defenseman in time on ice Saturday, playing 13:40 in his NHL debut. On Monday, he was second to only Chara as he played 23:27. That included power play minutes and a couple shifts at the end of a pair of penalty kills in the second period. 

“I didn't really come in with expectations, so everything that I'm getting I'm really excited about,” Hamilton said. “I just want to make the most of the opportunity and do my best. That's all I can do.”

Not only has Hamilton been given the opportunity, but he’s been good. He’s smart on the ice – something that’s said a lot about top prospects and isn’t always true – and has gotten more comfortable despite having only played two games. 

The lone lapse for Hamilton through two games came in the first period Monday, when he seemingly lost track of the puck in front after Paul Postma fired a shot on Tuukka Rask. Hamilton could have cleared it in front, but the puck made its way to Chris Thorburn, who fired it past Rask to give the Jets an early 1-0 lead. Yes, you can take that and say that he was partially at fault for half the Bruins’ goals against this season (they’ve allowed one in each game), but the truth is that No. 27 is fitting in just fine. 

“He got a lot more ice [Monday], but talking to him, he doesn’t seem uncomfortable at all,” Andrew Ference said. “It’s not the pace that’s going to bother him, because he’s a great skater, and so he can keep up with the pace. Everything just happens a little bit quicker, which he’s doing fine with. 

“He’s the type of guy, he can move the puck, and I think he mentioned it as well, it’s almost easier to play at this level because all your teammates are in such good position. That’s the biggest difference between this league and every other league pretty much, is guys do have such good positional hockey. He’s able to jump in with his skill set a lot easier than a guy that’s just working hard, or anything like that, because he’s got the raw talent.” 

The penalty kill has been killer: Twice in two games, Zdeno Chara has taken a penalty in a critical time of a tie game, and twice the B’s have been able to keep the opponent off the board without their top penalty killer. 

With the B’s 30 seconds into a Milan Lucic boarding penalty Saturday early in the third period of a 1-1 game Chara was penalized for hooking, giving the Rangers a 5-on-3.  Dennis Seidenberg, Patrice Bergeron, Chris Kelly, Johnny Boychuk, Adam McQuaid and Andrew Ference kept the Rangers quiet, with Ference eventually drawing a hooking penalty on Rick Nash with 20 seconds left on Chara’s penalty. 

On Monday, the stakes were higher, as the B’s had already killed off a Johnny Boychuk high-sticking penalty late in the third period and overtime, only to see Chara get called for holding Blake Wheeler with 1:28 left in the extra period. The B’s killed off the 4-on-3, taking the game to a shootout that they would eventually win. 

Through two games the Bruins, who also happen to be 0-for-9 on the power play, are 9-for-9 on the penalty kill. 

“We’ve had a good penalty kill for a number of years now,” Ference said. “Our forwards probably don’t get as much credit as they deserve either. Whether it’s Kelly or Bergeron up front, especially in those situations, they make our life really easy. I think there’s just that confidence going into those situations where it’s the same personnel a lot of the times, or a combination of just a couple. With doing it so many times together, you kind of know where each other is going, and it’s not as nerve-racking as it should be.”