Bruins: Building on impressive win in Nashville could boost Boston
BOSTON — They can’t all be like Tuesday, but if Thursday night’s game can bear even a reasonable resemblance, the Bruins could put themselves in a better place by the time they shut down for the NHL All-Star break and their bye week later this month.
Losers in their previous three games (two in extra time) and with only four wins in their previous 15 outings, the Bruins turned in one of their most complete games of the season in Tuesday night’s 6-2 victory at Nashville against the Predators.
Building on that in Thursday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets at TD Garden (7:05, NESN, WBZ-FM 98.5), where the B’s have only won two of their last nine (2-2-5), would be a sign that Tuesday’s win wasn’t a mirage.
Held to one even-strength goal (4 total) over an 0-1-2 skid before Tuesday, the Bruins got goals from three of their four lines against the Predators, while three defensemen contributed assists.
While the top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak was at the forefront with goals at even strength and on the power play, the third and fourth lines helped the B’s do something they’ve found almost impossible since they ran off eight straight wins and hit their high-water mark at 20-3-5 on Dec. 3 — put an opponent away.
“Any time you get balanced scoring, it just takes so much pressure off the (top line),” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It turns a lot of those one-goal games into two- or three-goal wins, if (more players) can pitch in every night. That’s the goal.”
One-goal decisions have been unkind to the B’s so far this season. Counting their miserable 2-11 record in extra time (2-5 in 3-on-3 OTs; 0-6 in shootouts), the Bruins are 8-14 in one-goal games — way, way off last year’s 21-13 mark.
Scoring first hasn’t guaranteed success, either. With an 18-7-6 record when taking a 1-0 lead through the season’s first 44 games, the B’s already have lost more times in that situation than all of last year (34-7-5).
“We’ve had good first periods lately,” Cassidy said. “We’ve gotten the lead. It’s just that we haven’t played better as the game went on. … We’ve let those leads get away.”
Not on Tuesday, though. The Bruins scored one goal in the first period, two in the second and three in the third. They never trailed, and they led by at least two goals once Bergeron’s power-play tally made it 3-1 with 2:18 left in the second period.
The latest version of the third line, and a makeshift version of the fourth, scored half of the Bruins’ goals, all at even strength.
A No. 3 unit of Danton Heinen, Charlie Coyle and Brett Ritchie scored twice, with Heinen’s goal and assist matching the number of points he’d scored in his previous 14 games, while Coyle went 1-1-2 after going 1-3-4 over his previous 15.
Chris Wagner, without a point in his previous 12 games, broke that drought on a goal early in the third that was assisted by Par Lindholm, who centered the fourth line (Sean Kuraly moved to left wing) because Joakim Nordstrom was sidelined by flu.
The second-line combination of Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci, joined by right wing Anders Bjork, was shut out at even strength, but DeBrusk (assist) helped the power play score for the 11th straight game, and Krejci closed the scoring with an empty-net goal.
“Different lines get on the score sheet, guys penalty kill, block some shots, the power play gets a big goal, Tuuka (Rask, 33 stops) makes some saves, our defense was active and made some plays,” Cassidy said. “Everyone feels like they’re doing their part.
“We’ve always felt we’re a group of 20 guys who have to pull their weight every night. If not, we’re not going to win every night.”