B’s come together right now
Veterans, kids produce victory against Coyotes
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The bottom line for the Bruins this season will likely be the degree to which they see a successful integration of the team’s older players and its several talented youngsters.
In the B’s previous two games, that was hardly a smooth process, as neither group — young nor old — was very good in back-to-back losses to the Colorado Avalanche.
But last night, the pieces of the puzzle fit together nicely, and the Bruins, led by a three-point effort from their most senior performer, Zdeno Chara, got a win they sorely needed, 6-2 against old pal Rick Tocchet’s struggling Arizona Coyotes.
The B’s can return home with a winning record if they can beat the Vegas Golden Knights tonight in Las Vegas.
“That’s obviously a big win for us,” Chara said. “Everybody contributed to it. We knew our job as veterans is to pull a good share of the load. We got that — and the younger group of players stepped us, as well. You need that. I thought (last night) had a lot of positives. We had good energy, we created a lot of good chances and we capitalized on most of them.”
This was the Bruins’ 11th consecutive victory against Arizona. The last time the B’s lost to the Coyotes was in Prague, Czech Republic, in October 2010.
The Bruins got goals from David Pastrnak (second of the season), Jake DeBrusk (second), Chara (first), Brad Marchand (third), Tim Schaller (second) and Anders Bjork (career No. 1). Chara added two assists, while Marchand, DeBrusk and Pastrnak also had single assists, and Danton Heinen a pair of helpers for multi-point games.
The B’s got good work from all four lines, with the Heinen-Schaller-Sean Kuraly trio again singled out as a tone-setter for the entire team.
In his first start of the young season, backup goalie Anton Khudobin stopped 29 shots.
“Everyone has to do their job,” Marchand said. “You can’t play bad games and expect to win in this league. We need everyone to do their job every night, be consistent and chip in. (Chara) always comes up big in important games. We had lost a couple in a row. We needed a boost and he was there to give it to us. He’s going to the Hall of Fame for good reason — and he showed it again (last night.)”
There wasn’t a whole lot happening in the first period, which ended, appropriately, with the teams tied, 1-1. The goals came late.
At 15:31, Coyotes rookie Mario Kempe tipped a puck past a screened Khudobin low to the far side.
The B’s answered almost immediately. Just 36 seconds later, Chara let go a bomb of a slapper from the right circle. The puck hit the hip of Pastrnak near the goal mouth and caromed past Arizona goalie Louis Domingue.
The second period was the B’s best since the season-opening win at the Garden against the Nashville Predators, as the visitors scored three times to go up, 4-1.
The Bruins were on a power play when DeBrusk gave them a 2-1 lead at 1:39. This one looked at first as though it would go to David Krejci, who cranked a onetime slapper past Domingue from the left circle. But a closer look at the replay showed that DeBrusk, skating hard to the net front, reached out and out a deft little tip on the puck shot by Krejci.
At 5:03, the Bruins broke in 2-on-1, but messed up the opportunity without a shot. Marchand retrieved the ensuing loose puck in the right circle and spied Chara coming late down the middle of the slot for a pass that was redirected by the defenseman from mid-slot on net. Domingue made the stop, but left a rebound in front. Chara continued to the net and chipped the loose puck up and over the goalie, making it 3-1.
The B’s got another breakaway minutes later, and took advantage. This one was created by a long pass from behind the B’s net by Chara. He ringed the puck around and up the left wing boards, finding Marchand at the far blue line. Marchand accepted the pass and was in behind the Arizona defense. He skated in from the left, cut across the goal mouth and snapped a backhander up under the bar for a 4-1 lead at 16:21 of the second.
After an Oliver Eckman-Larsson power-play goal made it 4-2 with 3:24 left in the third period, the B’s added two more. Schaller rapped in a rebound at 16:48 and Bjork’s power-play one-timer from the right circle with 1:23 to go to complete the scoring.