Boston Bruins
“It’s not easy, but he’s been hanging really well, and that’s why he got my trust.”
Marat Khusnutdinov has scored two goals in his last three games. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
November 5, 2025 | 6:20 AM
3 minutes to read
Marat Khusnutdinov couldn’t believe it at first.
With the Bruins in need of a tally during their shootout round against the Islanders, Marco Sturm tapped on the 23-year-old winger’s shoulder.
“He was actually pretty funny,” Sturm said of Khusnutdinov’s reaction to being picked for the shootout. “He looked at me, he’s like, ‘Me?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘OK.’”
The Russian-born forward was the second Bruin to hit the ice for the extra session after Casey Mittelstadt, with Sturm turning to Khusnutdinov as the next man up over Boston’s top scorers in David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie.
“Surprised? One hundred percent,” Khusnutdinov said. “I think Geeks or Pasta would go after Casey. But OK, great chance for me.”
For Sturm, the decision to roll with the hot hand in Khusnutdinov was a no-brainer. Once a fourth-line skater who cycled in and out of the lineup, the shifty forward has displayed a knack for rising to the occasion when called upon by his bench boss.
And with the puck on his stick Tuesday, Khusnutdinov delivered — snapping a wrist shot by Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin in what stood as the lone goal of the game-deciding shootout.
“I’m feeling great. He trusts me and I scored, team wins,” Khusnutdinov said. “Every time we win the game, it is fun for the team.”
Khusnutdinov has left his fingerprints all over Boston’s recent stretch of strong play that includes four straight wins and victories in five of the team’s last six games.
In just his last three games, Khusnutdinov — skating in a top-line role in place of an injured Elias Lindholm — has recorded an overtime tally against the Sabres, a third-period equalizer against the Islanders, and that eventual shootout winner just a few minutes later at UBS Arena.
“He is a resilient individual, that’s for sure. He keeps that mindset of happiness, gratefulness, gratitude, and he’s getting rewarded for it,” Jeremy Swayman said of Khusnutdinov. “We’re really happy to see that.”
While few expected a player like Khusnutdinov would get a significant run further up Boston’s lineup this season, the forward has quickly become a valuable cog in Sturm’s forward corps — elevating his stock in short order due to his straight-line speed, soft hands, and willingness to hound pucks on the forecheck.
That same tenacity that caught Sturm’s eye paid dividends in the third period of Tuesday’s eventual 4-3 victory.
In a game where Boston erased three separate one-goal deficits before sealing the deal in the shootout, Khusnutdinov forced overtime with his second goal in three games.
As the Bruins tried to push across another tying goal in the final minutes of regulation, Sturm reshuffled his lines — slotting up 21-year-old Fraser Minten on a forward grouping with Khusnutdinov and David Pastrnak.
That trio subsequently hemmed the Islanders in with a relentless forecheck, culminating in Khusnutdinov knocking a Minten rebound past Sorokin while tumbling down to knot the score at 3-3.
With Lindholm still deemed “week-to-week” and Boston so far avoiding a call-up from Providence, Sturm seems content with rolling with Khusnutdinov in a featured role for the time being.
It’s a sizable departure from the start of the season, when Khusnutdinov was deemed a healthy scratch in five of Boston’s first 10 games.
But be it last Thursday against Buffalo or Tuesday against the Islanders, Khusnutdinov is starting to develop a knack for rising to the occasion on a Bruins team where several contributors are all starting to pull on the rope.
“He’s been good,” Sturm said of Khusnutdinov on Tuesday. “He goes out there and plays hockey. He loves it. The guys like him in the room. It’s also not fair, probably for me, like putting him in a tough spot, playing with a superstar like 88 [Pastrnak]. It’s not easy, but he’s been hanging really well, and that’s why he got my trust.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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