B's Salvage Something From A Miserable Week In The West By Beating Up On The Pitiful Coyotes

It was a rough week for the Bruins and their fans as they were humiliated three late night games in a row in California. Luckily, Boston (15-12-1) sucked up their collective pride and were able to rally against one of the worst teams in the NHL-Arizona (10-15-3)-for a 5-2 win going away tonight in their road trip finale at good old Gila River Arena.

Nine different Bruins tallied points, led by Brad Marchand (2 goals), Reilly Smith (2 assists) and Dougie Hamilton (2 assists) as Boston matched their season-high by scoring five goals (something they'd done twice before). Tuukka Rask (24 saves) bounced back from technically the worst performance of his NHL career (7 goals allowed) even though if you watched that debacle in San Jose on Thursday, you know that he really didn't play that poorly at all and Boston easily could have give up 10+ goals. Seriously.

For the record, their formerly lifeless offense has come together for nine goals in its past two contests. Now the B's come home and get a few days between games before they host Chicago (18-8-1) on Thursday (7, NESN) in a juicy matchup and Ottawa (10-11-5) on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN). The Coyotes are a complete mess in almost every manner possible so it was heartening to see them come out and allow two goals in the first six minutes of the game.

Marchand scored his first goal 58 seconds in, a one-timer from Smith and Hamilton for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Kevan Millar made it 2-0 good guys five minutes later as he capitalized on a loose puck that found its way right to the blade of his stick in slot. One of the best players in Northeastern's mostly forgettable history cut it to 2-1 at 13:11 as Joe Vitale beat Rask to the top shelf over his far shoulder. It was the former Husky's third goal of the season, assisted by Arizona lifer (poor bastard) Shane Doan and Michael Stone.

Boston ensured it would be a happy flight home by pumping in three straight goals in the second period for a commanding 5-1 advantage. Simon Gagne had the puck go off his skate and in at 8:34 for his third goal of the season, assisted by Daniel Paille. A carbon copy one-timer by Marchand (from Smith and Hamilton) at 14:47 ended the proceedings for the immortal Devan Dubnyk (20 saves) and summoned Mike Smith from Arizona's bench.

If that wasn't enough evidence, you truly knew it was long over when Loui Eriksson of all people put in a power play goal at 19:30. His fourth goal of the season (Tyler Seguin only has five times as many goals as him this season) was assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug. For once, Eriksson went to the net and was rewarded with a tasty rebound that he deposited through Smith's five-hole.

Arizona made the score a little less sad with a power play goal by Mikkel Boedker at 5:41 of the third period. His ninth goal of the season was assisted by Antoine Vermette and Cushing Academy's Keith Yandle. I feel like the Coyotes have used the same core guys for the past decade.

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Welp, The Penguins Are Certainly The Class Of The Eastern Conference (At This Moment)

For whatever reason, the Bruins have been very competitive in their first two games against the Penguins this season (both this past week) but they have yet to figure out how to get two points. On Tuesday, they blew a 2-0 lead at CONSOL Energy Center and lost 3-2, today at the same tough venue they fell 2-1.

Pittsburgh (22-8-0) has won nine games in a row, they've beaten Boston (19-5-3) both times without the incomparable Evgeni Malkin and this afternoon, backup goaltender Tomas Vokoun (31 saves) beat Tuukka Rask (16 saves; 14-3-3). On Tuesday, B's backup goaltender Anton Khudobin took the loss.

The Penguins never trailed as Sidney Crosby (13th goal of the season) connected on a one-timer at 12:06 of the first period from Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis had the second assist. Tyler Seguin (10th goal of the season) had the Bruins' lone goal after Johnny Boychuk's shot from the point deflected off a Penguin right to Seguin at 16:38. Patrice Bergeron had the second assist.

Three guys from Beanpot schools teamed up for Pittsburgh's game-winner as Joe Vitale (Northeastern; 1st goal of the season) dove for a beautiful diving shot over Rask, Craig Adams (Harvard) and Brooks Orpik (Boston College) had the assists at 19:28. It's hard to totally blame Rask on Vitale's goal since the initial shot had deflected off Andrew Ference but it wasn't the hardest shot (speed wise) and Rask fumbled it right to Vitale.

It was a tight game the rest of the way that had a playoff-type feel. The NHL would be in for a real treat if these teams met in the playoffs this spring, ratings would be excellent. They'll play once more, finally in Boston, on Friday, April 19.

Of more concern for the Bruins is the health of David Krejci. He took a Boychuk slap shot right off his knee cap late in the third period and had to be helped off the ice and into the dressing room. Losing him for a significant period of time would be tough, especially with Chris Kelly (their third line center) also out indefinitely with a broken leg.

This kicked off a four-game road trip for Boston, up next they hit Canada for three games beginning with Tuesday (8 p.m., NESN) in Winnipeg (15-11-2, 1st in Southeast Division). The Bruins have topped the Jets in their first two games this season (2-1 in a shootout and 3-2) but Winnipeg has been playing very well lately (6-3-1 in their last 10). At Ottawa and Toronto won't be easy either since they are both still in the top six of the Eastern Conference. The B's won't be back at TD Garden until next Monday against the Maple Leafs.

UPDATE 3/18: Looks like Krejci isn't too hurt, he's day-to-day although the B's called up Ryan Spooner from Providence for tomorrow's game against the Jets.

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