In Boston, David Pastrnak hit for the game-winner for the Bruins in a 3-2 victory over the fading Vancouver Canucks on Sunday evening.
Linus Ullmark made 36 saves in the Boston win.
Boston improved to 11-7-0.
“We want to be a team that knows how to win in different situations,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s not easy to win in this league. I don’t care who you’re playing. You need things to go your way, and you need to be at your best. … It’s a full team effort for us. … It was good for those top guys on the power play [to score]. They’re the guys we rely on.”
Conor Garland and Tanner Pearson were the Canucks’ strikers in the loss.
“It’s a tough game to lose. It magnifies the way things are going,” Canucks head coach Travis Green said. “There was a lot of good effort tonight. It was a heavy, hard-fought game. In the end, their top guys found a way to get it done. … We want to win badly. You can feel the disappointment at the end of the game.”
Pastrnak scored off the power play at 16:38 of the third period.
“We’re not going to get ourselves out of this by being fancy,” Pearson said. “We’ve got to get gritty and score a few goals like that. It’s definitely tough [to lose]. … Going into the third with a lead. That’s one we need to have. … To lose that one to a special-teams battle in the third period, it doesn’t feel good.”
Anton Blidh also scored for the Bruins, he left the game in the third after being hit from behind. The ensuing power play led to the Pastrnak goal.
“No concussion or anything like that, but he hurt his upper body around his [shoulder],” Cassidy said of Blidh. “We’ll reevaluate tomorrow. He’s sore right now. He may miss time. He may not. That’s something we’ll have to look at.”
Brad Marchand hit for a goal and two points in the win.
“I thought Pastrnak scored, so I kind of stopped playing for a second,” Marchand said. “Then I saw [Bruins forward Nick Foligno] whacking away at it, and Bergeron. So I just tried to get close to it, and it was a very fortunate bounce to come out. It was nice to put that one away.”
Vancouver dropped to 6-14-2.
Jaroslav Halak made 39 saves in the Vancouver loss.
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