ANAHEIM — Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 3-0 win over the Ducks in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis…
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
David Krejci picking up slack on power play: For the second game in a row, Boston’s offense was able to do more than enough to snag two points on the night with David Pastrnak on the shelf. It certainly helps when your power play really hasn’t skipped a beat — due in large part to David Krejci fitting in rather seamlessly at Pastrnak’s usual spot at the left circle during the man advantage.
After doing his best impression of No. 88 on Tuesday against Chicago with a rifle of a one-timer goal, Krejci was at it again from the same spot against the Ducks, taking a feed from Torey Krug just seconds into a power play and luring Anaheim goalie Kevin Boyle way out of the net before setting up Jake DeBrusk for an easy goal.
If Boston is going to survive Pastrnak’s absence without any bumps along the way, it’s going to need multiple players to step up — along with continued production from its veteran core. So far, Krejci has answered the call, especially in an area of the game where Pastrnak has excelled.
Jaroslav Halak starting to rebound: Jaroslav Halak in his first two months as a Bruin? Pretty good! (8-3-0, .936 save percentage).
Since then, well … not so great — with the veteran netminder posting a record of 5-6-1 and an .894 save percentage during the months of December and January. But over the last week, Halak appears to have turned the corner a bit, with the netminder posting back-to-back wins with just one goal allowed over both appearances.
Halak’s positioning was superb on Friday against a Ducks club that managed to generate plenty of good looks as the game went along. Halak saved his best stop for the final period, shifting to his right to rob a one-timer blast from Brandon Montour while getting screened by Corey Perry.
In total, Halak stopped 30 shots en route to his fourth shutout of the year — and his first since Dec. 17 against Montreal.
B’s continue to roll: No Pastrnak, no problem for the Bruins, who have now won four straight games and have taken points in nine contests in a row. Boston now sits just one point behind Toronto for second place in the Atlantic (and the entire Eastern Conference, for that matter), although the B’s have played one more game than the Leafs.
Still, Boston has continued its recent trend of beating the cellar dwellers that it should be collecting points against, with Anaheim currently dead in the water with a record of 22-27-9.
THREE UP
Jaroslav Halak: After earning just one win over the span of a month, Halak has now posted victories in back-to-back outings, stopping 65 of the 66 shots that have come his way in the process en route to a .985 save percentage. Tuukka Rask may have reclaimed his spot as Boston’s top netminder, but if Halak can settle into another groove, the Bruins very well could roll out the best goaltender tandem in the league.
Jake DeBrusk: It might be one of the easier goals he’s tallied this season, but DeBrusk has now lit the lamp in back-to-back games — an encouraging sign considering he was mired in a 13-game goalless streak earlier that stretched through most of January. DeBrusk led all B’s players in Corsi For Percentage during 5v5 play at 66.67 on Friday— with the winger out on the ice for eight scoring chances for, and just three against.
Chris Wagner: A nice night for Wagner in his first game back in Anaheim, as the former Duck closed out the night with an empty-net goal for his seventh tally of the season — matching a career high. Wagner and his linemates also primarily matched up against Ryan Getzlaf and the Ducks’ top line, holding the trio off the scoresheet.
TWO DOWN
Third line: It’s still looking more and more like an upgrade on the third line is going to be the biggest area for the B’s to address ahead of the trade deadline — with the trio of Trent Frederic, David Backes and Joakim Nordstrom finishing with a 27.27 CF% over just 8:48 of 5v5 TOI. Not a lot going there once again.
Zdeno Chara: A little bit of good (5 SOG, team-leading 22:29 TOI) and bad from Chara on Friday, with the captain tagged for a team-high three giveaways on the night. One miscue, in which a puck skittered past him at the blue line, led to a prime scoring chance for Corey Perry, with Halak bailing out his defenseman with a glove stop.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Poor Kevin Boyle was done dirty on this sequence, in which David Krejci deked and dangled him out of his skates — setting up Jake DeBrusk for a power-play tally along the way.
What a play by David Krejci to deke and dangle past Kevin Boyle.
DeBrusk buries the puck to make it a 2-0 game. pic.twitter.com/iAtpgBLelL
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 16, 2019
.@chriswags23 seals it with his seventh goal of the season, tying a career high. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/u2SAXJZ9yH
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 16, 2019