Six-cessful adjustment
B’s ‘O’ comes alive to put Chicago on ice
No Pastrnak, no problem. Without their leading scorer, the Bruins still put up six goals for the first time since Jan. 3 to beat the Blackhawks 6-3, last night at the Garden.
It was announced earlier in the day that David Pastrnak would miss at least two weeks with a thumb injury, but five different scorers lit the lamp last night. That included a three-point evening from Danton Heinen on his third full game playing on the top line, and four points for Brad Marchand, three of them assists.
The third straight victory for the B’s comes after a weekend sweep in which they toppled the Kings and Avalanche, both in overtime, and extends the team’s overall point streak to seven contests.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, had their seven-game winning streak come to an end.
Tuukka Rask didn’t get the Bruins off to the start they would have hoped. He couldn’t squeeze a shot from Alex DeBrincat with 15:38 to go in the first, letting the puck trickle behind him for a 1-0 Blackhawks lead.
The Bruins easily could have dug an even bigger hole. Marchand was pushed into Chicago goalie Collin Delia with 12:48 left in the first and called for goaltender interference. Just over a minute later, a Zdeno Chara roughing call left them on a 5-on-3 penalty kill for 49 seconds.
The Bruins killed it off, earning a power play of their own with 6:17 left in the frame.
From there, the offense, sans Pastrnak, broke out.
Patrice Bergeron found David Krejci right under the circle, and Krejci one-timed it in with 5:13 left to tie the game. Just 49 seconds later, Heinen buried his third goal in four games to put the Bruins ahead.
With 1:01 to go before intermission, Marchand buried a wide-open look off a rebound for the 3-1 lead.
It took until 1:54 left in the second for anyone to find the scoreboard again. After the Blackhawks killed a 5-on-3, Jake DeBrusk was posted up to deflect a Krejci shot past Delia and put the Bruins ahead 4-1. It was his first goal in 13 games.
With 22 seconds left in the middle frame, Duncan Keith blasted a shot from the point that beat Rask to bring the Blackhawks back within two, 4-2.
Noel Acciari and John Hayden were sent off for roughing after a tussle in front of the Bruins bench just 3:53 into the third period. While on the 4-on-4, Erik Gustafsson fired a shot past Rask to cut the Bruins lead down to one.
With Dylan Strome off for a slashing call, Heinen found a wide-open Peter Cehlarik skating toward the net. Cehlarik notched his fourth goal of the season to put the Bruins ahead 5-3 with 12:42 to go in the game. Heinen picked up his third point of the game.
Krejci picked up his second goal with 4:18 left in the third period after Marchand slid him a pass from the slot to extend the lead to 6-3.
Heinen’s three-point night was the second of his career, with the other time coming Dec. 18, 2017 against the Blue Jackets.
Rask made 22 saves. The Bruins will head out west for a five-game road trip, starting Friday night with Anaheim.