Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak each put up two points (goal and assist) but the real talking points for the Bruins since they were much more unexpected had to be David Krejci's first fight since the 2010-11 season (the Cup year, that long ago) and Nick Ritchie had two points (goal and assist) himself in his second game as a Bruin. Ondrej Kase's debut for Boston wasn't too notable (minus-1 in 15:16) as he started out on the second line with Krejci and Ritchie before shifting around. Jaroslav Halak (17-6-6) improved to 6-0 in his past six starts with 31 saves. This could have been a less nervy finish as the Black and Gold had to sweat out the final few moments as they couldn't cash in a bunch of empty-net opportunities and the Stars got a weird bounce off Zdeno Chara's skate which cut it to 4-3 Bruins with 2:24 left in regulation. The B's held on though and put to bed any thoughts of an extended losing streak at least for the time being.
The first period was devoid of much action until near the end of the frame as both clubs converted on power play chances. Dallas defenseman John Klingberg's shot deflected off Chara's stick at 17:38 for a 1-0 Dallas lead. Joe Pavelski had the lone assist on Klingberg's fifth goal of the season (that was changed to what would have been Jamie Benn's 300th career goal, only to revert back to Klingberg). Charlie Coyle tied it with a play that would make any professional baseball player proud: Stars goaltender Ben Bishop (24 saves, 21-14-4) made a save on Torey Krug but Coyle hit the puck out of mid-air with his stick once then a second time for the tying tally. Coyle's 16th goal of the season was also assisted by Marchand.
Knotted at one apiece after the first period, Boston took control with a pair of goals 1:17 apart late in the second period. Stars defenseman Andrej Sekera and B's winger Chris Wagner both hit the post earlier in the second. Krejci (18 penalty minutes on the season entering tonight) threw down with another normally mild-mannered guy-Joe Pavelski (24 penalty minutes before this) and for two guys that never drop the gloves, it was an excellent bout. Krejci got the best of Pavelski as evidenced by his bloody knuckles that had to be repaired in the Bruins dressing room. That obviously fired his teammates up as they scored 2:20 after it. Marchand potted his 26th goal of the season at 14:44 on a sweet feed from Charlie McAvoy. Pasta had the other assist as Bishop was left down and out with no chance to stop Brad's top-shelf bullet. Ritchie's shot from distance might have been tipped by someone or something but ultimately it went down as an unassisted goal for him (his 9th of the season and 1st as a Bruin) at 16:01.
Dallas cut it to 3-2 early in the final period as Denis Gurianov tipped in Esa Lindell's shot at 1:18. Jason Dickinson notched the other helper on Gurianov's 19th goal of the season. Boston answered right back as Pastrnak's finished an on-the-tape pass by Ritchie at 3:53 for his NHL-best 46th (!!!) goal of the season. Jeremy Lauzon picked up his first assist of the season as well on what turned out to be Pasta's game-winning goal. Marchand tried to score an empty-netter but it was blocked and other Bruins skated in mud as they tried to end the game. The Stars were undeterred as Miro Heiskanen forced a save by Halak, only to see the puck find a way to get past Halak. Heiskanen's eighth goal of the season was assisted by Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin (remember him, ladies of the greater Boston area?). The Bruins swept the two-game season series vs. the Stars after beating them 2-1 in the season opener on Oct. 3. To give you a clue how long ago that was, Boston's two goal-scorers that night are no longer on the team as Brett Ritchie is in Providence and Danton Heinen was traded to Anaheim. The Bruins are 7-0-2 in their last nine games vs. the Stars, something to keep in mind when they meet this June in the Stanley Cup Final.
After practice tomorrow at Warrior Ice Arena, the Bruins will hit the road for three games in Long Island and Florida. Wagner left tonight's game with an upper-body injury so the team will know more about his status for the road trip after he shows up tomorrow in Brighton. They are at the Islanders (35-20-8) on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) followed by the Lightning on Tuesday (7:30, NBCSN) and Panthers (33-25-6) on Thursday (7, NESN)-which is always a majority Bruins crowd. New York is the top Wild Card in the Eastern Conference but they have lost their last two games in overtime. The Lightning are playing some of their worst hockey of the season and captain Steven Stamkos is out with an injury while the Panthers are four points behind the Blue Jackets (31-20-14) for the second Wild Card. With all that said, those are three tough opponents and at least two of them will probably make the playoffs this spring so get used to seeing them some more.
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment