Final: Bruins 2, Golden Knights 1

The way Sean Kuraly was playing, he deserved a goal. He eventually accomplished just that when he scored at 9:53 of the third period to help the Bruins to a 2-1 win over the Golden Knights Thursday night at TD Garden.



It was Kuraly's first of the season and first regular-season goal of his NHL career. He tallied a pair of goals against the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring. On Thursday, he was playing with pace and energy all night and was rewarded for his efforts when he crashed the net with reckless abandon and drove the puck home.

There's nothing expansion-like about the Golden Knights this season. They entered this game with an 8-3-0 record for 16 points, which has been impressive. The Golden Knights defeated the Bruins 3-1 in the first-ever meeting between the teams on Oct. 15 at T-Mobile Arena.

Tuukka Rask finished with 28 saves and improves to 2-3-2 this season.

Vegas has lost three goalies this season with Marc-Andre Fleury sidelined with a concussion and Malcolm Subban and Oscar Dansk also on IR with lower-body injuries. Maxime Lagace is 0-3-0 in his three games.

After being a healthy scratch in four of the previous five games, Matt Beleskey returned to the lineup for the Bruins.

Observations from the third period

There it is. Kuraly crashes the net with reckless abandon and drives in his first goal of the season to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead. It's also his first regular-season goal. He scored two during the playoffs last season against the Senators.

Paul Postma has played one of his better games of the season.

Rask has been outstanding in this game. He's made more than a few timely saves look easy.

Observations from the second period

Unless something changes in the third period, this could be the last time we see Beleskey for a while. That was a terrible shift as the second is coming to a close.

Danton Heinen is a damn good player.

I was saying earlier that Jake DeBrusk has been stronger on the puck of late. Well, he wasn't on that play and the Golden Knights capitalized to tie the game at 1-1.

David Pastrnak said this morning that he's trying to shoot more and he just created a quality scoring chance by shooting from just inside the blue line. Patrice Bergeron, who was out of gas at the end of his shift, nearly put the puck past Lagace, but the goalie made a nice pad save.

Riley Nash scores his first goal of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. He had two chances at it and drove the puck home on his second opportunity on the same shift. He's been playing well tonight. Austin Czarnik assisted on the goal and he's also had a strong game so far.

DeBrusk, going hard to the net, draws a penalty. That's what he's trying to do more of and it worked.

Another bad icing by Torey Krug on Boston's power play.

Observations from the first period

I know Bruce Cassidy has Pastrnak on the top line with Bergeron and Brad Marchand out of necessity, but that trio is fun to watch. Only a few shifts into the period and they've already generated a few scoring chances.

DeBrusk has the ability to be strong on the puck, but he's improving in that area, especially of late.

When Noel Acciari (finger) returns to the lineup, his line with Nash and Tim Schaller will be a major boost for the Bruins.

After that broken shift, maybe Cassidy should consider putting Austin Czarnik with Pastrnak. Some serious passing skills right there, boys.

Can't tell if Cassidy is upset with the official or Beleskey after his tripping penalty.

I'm a fan of Vegas' white gloves.

Charlie McAvoy has mastered the art of coming across the ice to lend support for his partner before absolutely laying out the opponent near Boston's blue line. Brad Park would agree.

Here are the projected line combinations and defensive pairings vs. Golden Knights 

Forwards

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak

DeBrusk-Nash-Schaller

Heinen-Szwarz-Bjork

Beleskey-Kuraly-Czarnik

Defense

Chara-McAvoy

Krug-Carlo

Postma-Miller

Goalies

Rask

McIntyre