James Hagens’ debut for the Boston Bruins wasn’t spectacular, but he made his presence felt in a hotly contested victory over a desperate Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night. In the 3-2 victory at Nationwide Arena, Hagens recorded an assist but the stars of the game were Joonas Korpisalo (34 saves) and Sean Kuraly, who had a three-point game in handing a damaging loss to his former team. The ...

In this file photo, Boston Bruins head coach Marco Sturm looks on with Mark Kastelic, Sean Kuraly and Casey Mittelstadt during a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on March 12, 2026, at the TD Garden in Boston.

Matt Stone/Boston Herald/TNS

James Hagens’ debut for the Boston Bruins wasn’t spectacular, but he made his presence felt in a hotly contested victory over a desperate Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night.

In the 3-2 victory at Nationwide Arena, Hagens recorded an assist but the stars of the game were Joonas Korpisalo (34 saves) and Sean Kuraly, who had a three-point game in handing a damaging loss to his former team.

The B’s win snapped their five-game losing streak and it kept their hopes alive of getting back into the first wild-card spot.

After having clinched a playoff spot on Saturday evening via Detroit’s loss to New Jersey, coach Marco Sturm decided to give a good chunk of his roster the night off. Not in the lineup were Pavel Zacha, Viktor Arvidsson, Tanner Jeannot, Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm while Joonas Korpisalo got the start.

Not coincidentally, the Blue Jackets – fighting for their playoff lives – were all over the B’s in the first period, outshooting them 14-3. But after 20 minutes, the game was tied at 1-1.

The start of this one looked like the game in Columbus two weeks ago when the Jackets raced out to a 3-0 lead before the B’s stormed back to win it in a shootout in what may have been the B’s most important win of the season.

Columbus took the first lead just 3:51 in when the Jackets hemmed in the B’s. From just below the left point, Dante Fabbro made a pass down for Mason Marchment, who had popped out from behind the net to redirect the puck past Korpisalo.

The B’s went over half the period without landing a single shot on net, but their first one went in. Henri Jokiharju’s shot was tipped down by Mark Kastelic and it bounced off Kuraly’s skate for Kuraly’s sixth at 10:31.

Hagens got himself on the stat sheet late in the period but not the way he wanted, taking a hooking penalty on Charlie Coyle with 59 seconds left in the period. Fortunately for Hagens, his teammates killed it off for him.

They also killed off a couple more stick fouls, one on Andrew Peeke and another on Alex Steeves.

And with 29 seconds left in the second period, the B’s took their first lead of the game and the prized rookie figure in on it.

Hagens got in on the forecheck, beating Denton Mateychuk for the puck. He kicked it out for Kuraly, who threw the puck out front for Jokiharju. With a crowd in front of Jet Greaves, Jokiharju’s snap shot found the puck of the net for his second of the year.

It may not have been the way anyone envisioned the highly skilled Hagens getting his first helper, but it counted.

Hagens nearly had his first NHL goal on the first shift of the third period when a shot that went wide and drew Greaves came out of the net. There was a little daylight for Hagens to slip the rebound into the open net but Greaves was able to scramble back in and get his pad on Hagens’ attempt.

Then at 1:27, the Jackets tied it. David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie couldn’t control the puck just inside the Columbus blue line and it squirted over to Danton Heinen. He connected on a stretch pass to Adam Fantilli, who had gotten far behind both Jokiharju and Nikita Zadorov. In fact, he had to wait at the Boston blue line for the puck to get to him. Once he gathered, he turned the jets back on and beat Jokiharju with a wrister.

But the Bruins regained the lead at 10:22 off a terrific fourth line shift. Kept alive numerous times by the activating Jonathan Aspirot and Jordan Harris, the puck eventually came around to Kastelic low on the left side and Kastelic got his 10th of the year by beating Greaves on a bad-angle shortside shot.

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