BRIGHTON — Heading on the road to start a season is often a bonding experience for NHL teams. The Boston Bruins get that luxury to start the 2016-17 regular season when they leave on Wednesday for their three-game road trip.

Their first stop on Thursday night: Columbus, where they play a lowly Blue Jackets squad that are pegged by pundits to remain in the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

Two days later, the Bruins will be in Toronto to face phenom Auston Matthews and the rest of the Maple Leafs for the first time in 2015-16. While they’re expected to improve from their 69-point season a year ago, Mike Babcock and company will still have some growing pains to endure.

Their last stop is in Winnipeg on Monday, where the Bruins will face an up and coming Jets squad that is two years removed from their first playoff appearance since relocating from Atlanta.

For a Bruins squad that is looking to turn the page from their last two late regular season collapses, they are embracing the chance to jump on ‘Bear Force One’ to begin the 2016-17 campaign.

“It’s a great opportunity and it’s also a great test I think,” David Backes said moments after sending Ryan Spooner off on a breakaway that led to the B’s 1-0 overtime win over the Flyers in the preseason finale on Saturday.

“Columbus, Toronto, Winnipeg, we’re going to put some miles on. But if we accept that that is our task in hand and we really embrace it, then I think it’s a great opportunity to bond together to go into some hostile style environments and to win some games and come on the other side a lot better team because of what went through and going into some tough buildings and getting out of there with wins. We need to really embrace that. It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be ugly, but we can play some tough and ugly games to win them, and it’s going to be a good feeling.”

From the World Cup to the prospects challenging for a roster spot and new additions like Backes and Riley Nash, the Black and Gold are going through some moving parts before opening night. Though even in the short time span, head coach Claude Julien sees a roster complimenting each other as they get to know one another.

“As far as coming in and bonding and guys coming in and being around one another, I don’t think that’s been an issue,” said the tenth-year Bruins coach. “Where we’re fortunate in that area is we’re hitting the road this week for three games and they’ll have lots of time on the road with team meals and staying in hotels and flying together, which will give them a chance to bond even more.”

The added bonding time is never a bad thing, but the results are always the determining factor of a successful opening road trip. Though they started the first three games at TD Garden last year, the B’s need to look no further from their 0-3 campaign to start 2015-16.

This year they get a chance to get away for a few days from their daily routine in Boston. Given the fans confidence in the current state of the franchise, the opening trip is a welcoming factor for the Black and Gold.

“It’s a good challenge,” defenseman Torey Krug said. “A lot of times its beneficial for a team that has a lot of new faces to go on the road and kind of get away from Boston for a little bit and let our chemistry build naturally and grow together as a team. There’s no pressure to put on a show for the hometown fans so hopefully it will be good for us.”