BSJ Game Report: Bruins 4, Kings 2 - McAvoy’s late goal, standout showing from Rask push B’s to 5th straight win taken at Staples Center (Bruins)

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Bruins

BSJ Game Report: Bruins 4, Kings 2 - McAvoy’s late goal, standout showing from Rask push B’s to 5th straight win

By Conor Ryan

Feb 17, 2019 • 2:08 am

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LOS ANGELES — Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-2 win over the Kings in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis…

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Tuukka Rask comes to the rescue: The Kings might be wallowing at the bottom of the Western Conference, but Saturday had the makings of a potential trap game for the B’s, entering the second leg of a back-to-back slate out on the West Coast. Sure enough, the Bruins failed to put the game away after Jake DeBrusk and Brad Marchand lit the lamp through the first two periods, with the Kings battling back to tie things up at 15:37 in the final stanza.

L.A. very well could have entered the third period with a one or two-goal cushion if it wasn’t for Rask, with shorthanded chances — an Achilles’ heel on this Bruins club — giving the Kings a puncher's chance throughout the night, headlined by a miscue by Matt Grzelcyk that gave Anze Kopitar a clean breakaway early in the second period.

On a night in which Boston played with a slim, one-goal lead for most of the contest, Rask stood as the difference maker, turning aside Kopitar’s clean look before making arguably the save of the year just minutes later, robbing Alex Iafallo on a 2-on-1 chance with a tumbling, Dominik Hasek-esque stop.

While Charlie McAvoy’s late goal might take away some of the headlines from Rask, Boston doesn’t get two points without its goalie keeping the Kings at bay for most of the contest.

B’s show plenty of resolve: Talk about a momentum swing. Leading for about 49 minutes of regulation, Boston suddenly seemed poised for an overtime period against the Kings after Iafallo buried a rebound with 4:23 to go in the game. Undaunted, Boston responded by killing off a questionable hooking call against Marchand just 27 seconds later, setting the stage for McAvoy to deflect a feed from DeBrusk home with just 1:13 left on the clock to hand Boston its fifth win in a row, with Patrice Bergeron adding an insurance goal less than a minute later.

Don’t look now, but Boston has only dropped three games in regulation since the start of 2019. Yeesh.

THREE UP

Jake DeBrusk: He’s taken some grief this season due to his hot and cold spells in his sophomore season, but the winger is now up to 17 goals this season in just 50 games played — after breaking out with 16 goals over 70 games as a rookie. With David Pastrnak out, DeBrusk is getting hot at just the right time, with the winger adding the primary assist on McAvoy’s game-winner.




Tuukka Rask:
Aside from a one-time blast home from
Ilya Kovalchuk
on the power play and a rebound tally by Iafallo, Rask was superb on Saturday, with the B’s netminder putting out numerous fires during Boston’s stints on the power play while robbing Iafallo on that 2-on-1 earlier on the night. Don’t look now, but Rask has not lost a game for the B’s since all the way back on Dec. 23 — a span of 14 games.


Charlie McAvoy:
Another aggressive night in the offensive zone for McAvoy, who landed four shots on goal — including the eventual game-winner — while logging 19:16 of ice time.




TWO DOWN


Matt Grzelcyk:
A bit of rust had to be expected for Grzelcyk, who missed the previous four games due to a lower-body injury. Along with the miscue that led to the Kopitar shorthanded breakaway, Grzelcyk was out for Iafallo’s goal and only logged 17:17 TOI.


Power Play:
After tallying goals in back-to-back outings without Pastrnak, Boston's power play was due for a bit of a regression — which came to fruition on Saturday with a 0-for-2 showing on the man advantage. You can’t cash in on every chance you get, but Boston constantly left Rask out to dry on the power play, with the Kings actually holding a 3-2 edge in shots on goal against Boston during 4:00 minutes of shorthanded play.


PLAY OF THE GAME


You had to know what this was going to be, right?




PARTING THOUGHT


Making his NHL debut, Karson Kuhlman logged 9:47 of ice time on a line that was largely quiet once again. Still, the winger did show off some his wheels while possessing the puck in the offensive zone. He may not have the size of
David Backes
, but he certainly provided much more of a zip.


Elsewhere,
Peter Cehlarik
only finished with 10:57 of ice time and didn’t play for most of the third period.
Bruce Cassidy
noted postgame that Cehlarik is dealing with a lower-body injury. His status is unclear for Monday’s matchup against San Jose.


LOOKING AHEAD


The Bruins will hang around California for a couple more days, with the B’s set to take on the San Jose Sharks up in the Bay Area on Monday night. Puck drop is set for 10 p.m. The Sharks, who made one of the top splashes of the offseason when they added
Erik Karlsson,
currently sit in second place in the Pacific Division with a 35-17-7 record.

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