The Boston Bruins (29-20-2) lit up the scoreboard with three goals in just 54 seconds, then battled through a fierce Vegas Golden Knights (24-13-12) rally to hold on to a 4-3 win on Thursday at TD Garden. Boston has now won seven of its last eight games and nine of 11 overall.
Bruins veteran right wing David Pastrnak scored a goal and provided two assists for his 255th multi-point game, tying Bobby Orr for the fourth-most in franchise history. So far in 46 games this season, the 29-year-old has garnered 21 goals and 42 assists for 63 points, including 9 power-play goals and 15 power-play assists. Over his career, Pastrnak has recorded 412 goals and 484 assists for 896 points in 802 games.
The early surge came during a four-minute power play after Tomas Hertl of Vegas was assessed a double minor for high-sticking. Charlie McAvoy struck first, blasting a one-timer past goalie Akira Schmid just 10 seconds into the man advantage. Less than a minute later, Elias Lindholm scored from the slot off a Pastrnak feed, doubling Boston's lead. Tanner Jeannot added a third goal at even strength after Sean Kuraly stole the puck from Ben Hutton and set up the score, giving the Bruins a 3-0 advantage just 9:54 into the first period. Boston outshot the Golden Knights 15-4 in the opening frame and kept Vegas off the board for the final 13:45 of the period.
Pastrnak stretched the lead to 4-0 in the second period. Nikita Zadorov carried the puck into the zone and set up Pastrnak, who rifled a wrist shot past Schmid from the left hash marks. Vegas wasn’t ready to roll over, striking back early in the third to make things interesting. Jack Eichel redirected a Noah Hanifin pass 31 seconds into the period, and Hertl scored on the ensuing power play to cut the deficit to 4-2. Pavel Dorofeyev then scored with the goalie pulled, bringing the Golden Knights within one, but Joonas Korpisalo held firm, finishing with 30 saves on 33 shots and recording his fourth consecutive victory, his longest since joining the Bruins.
Since New Year's Eve, Boston has gone 9-2-0 and outscored opponents 46-27. With Thursday's win, the Bruins sit three points above the playoff cut line in the Atlantic Division, setting the stage for Saturday's pivotal matchup against the Montreal Canadiens, who lead by just three points.
