In Boston, the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark made 31 saves in a 5-3 win over the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Boston improved to 18-5-3.
“I love the effort,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought our second and third effort was really good. I thought we had some great blocks. Obviously, [Ullmark] was fantastic, and he needed to be, we gave up too much. And ‘Pasta’ was fantastic.”
The Bruins broke out for a 3-0 lead in the game.
David Pastrnak opened the scoring at 15:22 of the opening stanza.
Charlie Coyle scored less than am minute later for a 2-0 advantage.
Kevin Shattenkirk pushed the lad to 3-0 at 2:02 of the middle frame, with a power play strike.
“I think we just maybe got caught up in thinking the game was going to be a bit of a runaway and got a little loose there,” Shattenkirk said. “They’re a good team offensively, they can make you pay.”
Arizona replied with two quick strikes in a 32-second span to trim the deficit to one at 3-2.
Clayton Keller hit for a goal at 2:50 of of the middle frame to make it 3-1, and Michael Carcone scored at 3:22 to trim the deficit to 3-2.
“I think we just had to stay calm,” Carcone said. “There was obviously some frustration going on. I thought maybe it was taking away from us, but [Tourigny] reassured us that we’re playing a good game, and we just got to stick with it. I think we responded well to that.”
Boston replied near the midway point of the second period on a marker from Danton Heinen to make it 4-2 to Boston.
“[Poitras] won a battle there on the wall,” Heinen said. “First good reload by him, and then you know, a little chip there to me. I was lucky enough to put it in, but that was a good play by him and [Frederic] there to create all that.”
The Coyotes dropped to 13-11-2 off their second straight loss.
“It’s tough when you give four (goals up) after two (periods) at the TD (Garden) to get out with a win,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “But at the same time, our guys, they (were) never out of the fight. They kept coming and kept working, and we generate good offense, we just have to make sure our offense is not that costly.”
Lawson Crouse made it a one-goal game at 3:20 of the third, 4-3, but that was as close as Arizona would get.
Pastrnak scored a double on the day, with his second coming at 14:29 of the third for the 5-3 final count.
“We get a lead, it’s up to us to see if we can play the right way, close it out,” Coyle said. “Those are games you’re going to have to get used to, no matter what the score is, really. But we want to keep playing the same way, not sit back, just play the right way.”
Connor Ingram made 24 saves in the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.