A solid road W.
After a sluggish first period, the Bruins came alive in the second and third periods to beat St. Louis, 5-2, at Enterprise Center.
The win was the third in a row for the Bruins, who got points from nine skaters and 24 saves from Jeremy Swayman in the win.
Fraser Minten and Mark Kastelic carried the offense for the Bruins, with each scoring twice.
In a weird twist, those goals were the 5th and 6th of the season for both players. SYNERGY.
David Pastrnak returned from injury and didn’t miss a beat, recording an assist on the B’s first and last goals.
Robert Thomas got the scoring started with a power play goal through traffic early in the first period, making it 1-0 Blues.
That would be it for scoring in the first, as the Bruins survived a sloppy period overall thanks to some great work in net from Swayman.
The B’s managed to tilt the ice in their direction as the second period wore on, eventually finding paydirt midway through.
After a hard-working shift, Minten collected a loose puck and tucked it in an open net to make it a 1-1 game.
The B’s would take the lead less than two minutes later when a great point shot from Victor Soderstrom was tipped in, making it 2-1 Bruins. The goal was originally credited to Sean Kuraly, but later changed to Mark Kastelic.
Shortly after Joel Hofer made a few saves in a net-front scramble, the Blues cashed in on an Andrew Peeke turnover with Buchnevich and Thomas linking up again to make it a 2-2 game.
Just three minutes later, it was Kastelic again — this time, collecting the puck in the crease and tucking in his second goal of the night. 3-2 Bruins.
This time, it was Minten again — once again, just three minutes later. Shortly after tipping a point shot off the post, Minten has a classic “NHL 2006 on PS2” turn-and-fire to make it 4-2 Bruins.
Pavel Zacha would add an empty-netter with just under two minutes to go to seal it.
Bruins win, 5-2!
Game notes
- Nikita Zadorov got on the scoresheet with an assist tonight, but his overall impact was far more positive than a single point would suggest. He was a rock for the B’s on the back-end, recording 4 blocked shots, 3 hits, and about half a dozen arguments with countryman Pavel Buchnevich.
- Swayman’s save total of 24 may seem relatively pedestrian, but he made several big stops, particularly in the first period when the Blues seemed on the verge of extending their lead. He also looked like he attempted a shot on the empty St. Louis net, to no avail. Someday.
- The B’s got a little bit of luck on their first goal, as Minten’s initial attempt at an either a deke or pass appeared to deflect off of the referee’s skate towards the St. Louis net, where Minten eventually found it. However, you could also consider it one of those “make your own luck” plays, as Minten won a race to a loose puck right before that. Move your feet and get rewarded, etc.
- Kuraly didn’t end up getting credit for the second goal, but he played a big part in both the second and the third. On the third goal, he won a footrace to negate an icing call just a few seconds before Kastelic scored.
- Speaking of Kuraly, he was part of a fourth line that provided plenty tonight. Along with the Kastelic goals, Kuraly had two assists and Tanner Jeannot supplied some sandpaper with 9 (yes, 9) hits.
- Similar to the game at TD Garden, the Bruins managed to spend most of this game at 5-on-5, giving the Blues just two power play opportunities.
- Pastrnak had 2 assists and 3 shots on goal in 15:36 TOI in his first game since before Thanksgiving.
- Marco Sturm spread out the ice time among his forwards tonight, with no one skating less than 13 minutes or more than 16 minutes (Kuraly had 16 on the nose). Every forward had either 17, 18, or 19 shifts, per the NHL’s game stats. We’ve seen Sturm is willing to staple players to the bench if he sees fit, so he must have liked what he saw from his forward corps.
The B’s will be in Winnipeg to face the Jets on Thursday night.
Category: General Sports
