In Dallas, the Bruins scored twice in the first period to take control of their game with the Stars, and then held off Dallas for a 3-2 win.
Jeremy Swayman made 35 saves in the Boston win.
“I think [my performance] was a culmination of all the games,” Swayman said. “A lot of these teams have great identities of funneling pucks to the net. Obviously tips, got to work on those. Two tip goals is frustrating, so I want to make sure I get on top of that when I get back to Boston. It’s one game at a time. That’s all I really care about, and the experiences is what makes me better and allows me to make those saves.”
The Bruins improved to 10-1-1.
John Beecher and Mason Lohrei were the first period strikers for the Bruins.
Beecher scored midway through the frame for a 1-0 lead.
“I think it’s just about as happy as you could ever be. Not only to get the first one but to score a big goal in an away game to help your team win,” Beecher said. “My line played fantastic tonight and helped me get a couple of opportunities, so it was good.”
Lohrei pushed the advantage to 2-0 at 14:09.
For both strikers, it was their first career NHL goal.
“Two goals from rookies and the fourth line,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “It was really important. We really wanted to jump on them early, and we were able to do that. Then they got a big push last seven minutes of the first and the second. I thought in the last five minutes of the second and the third, we played well with a lead.”
Following a scoreless second period, Wyatt Johnston hit at 5:09 to trim the Dallas deficit to 2-1.
“I think we’ve kind of seen in my one year and 10 games now that we’re never out of the game,” Johnston said. “We can come back in any game, but obviously you don’t want to be in that situation. You want to be playing with that two-goal lead in the third period.”
Brad Marchand then hit for the eventual game-winner at 9:51 for a 3-1 lead.
“Poor penalty, poor timing. No sugarcoating that,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said of the holding the stick call on forward Mason Marchment. “I’d like to say it was a bad call, but it was a penalty. You can’t do that at that point. We’ve battled back into the game. He’s a smarter, better player than that.”
The Bruins needed that goal because Joe Pavelski scored with 28 seconds left on the game clock for the 3-2 final.
Jake Oettinger made 26 saves in the loss.
“I think when we don’t start as well, it’s easy to kind of pick it up and realize you’ve maybe not been playing your best,” Johnston said. “But that’s definitely not something we want to have to do. We don’t want to have to wake ourselves up after the first period. I think having good starts is huge, and it’s a lot easier to play with the lead rather than having to come back into games.”
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