by Bob Morello
Bruins regaining scoring touch
When the Bruins have a game in which they score 10 goals, you just know that it deserves a second look back, making it a confidence builder. Such was the case last Saturday, when the New York Rangers were in town for a 1:00pm matinee with the Bruins, with the Blueshirts already on a losing streak. It started innocently enough with Mika Zibanejad putting a quick slap shot behind Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman just 1.24 into the game. Answering the bell in the first period for the Bruins were goals from: Marat Khusnutdinov with his sixth of the year, and Pavel Zacha’s pair of goals, numbers 11th and 12th of the season. End of first period Boston led 3-1. A bit over two minutes into the second period, Fraser Minten notched his ninth goal of the year. Back comes Khusnutdinov with his seventh, and Zacha back with his ‘hat trick’ goal number 13, before J.T. Miller briefly stopped the bleeding with his 11th goal fourteen plus minutes into the second stanza, before Charlie McAvoy’s snap shot brought the numbers to 7-2 Bruins end of two periods. Things did not get any better for the Rangers, as the third period saw Khusnutdinov sandwich goals number eight and nine around Minten’s 10th goal of the season, a four-goal game for him, making the final score 10-2 Boston, an embarrassment by any measure, for the Empire State visitors. For the Bruins it was an awakening of the offense, with ‘hat tricks’ from Khusnutdinov – four goals on the night, and a trick from Zacha, with his three goals, plus a productive night for Minten with his pair of goals, and not to be overlooked David Pastrnak contributing six assists to tie a franchise record. Pasta’s six put him into the company of Bobby Orr and Ken Hodge, the last two Bruins to accomplish the feat. Pasta’s efforts were rewarded as the NHL named him the NHL’s Third Star of the Week for the week ending January 11. Boston’s leading goal scorer, Morgan Geekie was not able to add to his numbers, as he had to leave the Garden after the first intermission, to attend to a family emergency. Jeremy Swayman finished up the game having stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced, improving his record to 17-11-2. Joonas Korpisalo followed up on Sunday, as he took over the Boston net and recorded a 1-0 shutout over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Tonight (Thursday) the Bruins will host the Seattle Kraken in an 8:00pm start, to be preceded by Zdeno Chara’s Number Retirement Ceremony. Boston will head back out on the road to be hosted by the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday (8:00pm), and then on Monday (7:30pm) to Dallas to take on the Stars, before returning to TD Garden ice on Thursday (7:00pm) to welcome former Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy and the Vegas Golden Knights.