Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-2 win over the Coyotes in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:
Box Score
HEADLINES
Bruins keep on rolling: The odds already weren’t in the Coyotes’ favor entering Saturday’s matinee at TD Garden. Arizona, having flown across the country late Thursday night after a 9 p.m. EST matchup in Glendale, was tasked with stopping a Bruins club that has outscored the competition, 17-5, during a five-game winning streak. Add in the fact that Arizona hasn’t exactly had much success against Boston over the last decade, and Rick Tocchet’s club had to feel awfully discouraged when it took the ice on Causeway Street this afternoon. After all, Boston had won its last 15 games against the ‘Yotes — with the B’s last loss to this team coming all the way back on Oct. 9, 2010 in Prague.
Well, make it 16 now. With Boston’s 4-2 victory over the Coyotes on Saturday, Boston set a new franchise record for consecutive wins against one opponent — surpassing a 15-0-0 run that Boston reeled off against the Flyers from 1970-72. Trailing 1-0 off of a power-play tally from Phil Kessel minutes into the second period, Boston closed out the middle frame with three unanswered goals — with Charlie Coyle, Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk all lighting the lamp to give the Bruins a lead they would not relinquish.
Jakob Chychrun cut Boston’s lead to one just 26 seconds into the third period, but Tuukka Rask (29 saves on 31 shots) shut the door down the stretch, while Coyle’s empty netter at 19:11 snuffed out any hope of an Arizona rally.
As Coyle goes, so goes the Bruins:
Boston’s big guns up front in Patrice Bergeron (one goal, three points) and David Pastrnak (two assists) did plenty of damage on Saturday, especially on a man advantage that tallied two goals in a combined 26 seconds of 5v4 ice time. But, as has been the case for most of Boston’s extended winning streak, an uptick in production from Charlie Coyle and the Bruins’ third line has provided Bruce Cassidy’s club with a much-needed shot in the arm, especially during 5v5 play. Along with Coyle’s two tallies, his line spent many shifts extending zone time around Adin Hill and the Coyotes’ net — as seen below:
https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1226262711073460225
So long as Boston continues to get this level of production from the middle six (a line of DeBrusk-Krejci-Kuhlman generated seven scoring chances in 8:51 of 5v5 ice time), it’s going to be awfully tough to slow down this club, especially with its special-teams unit humming right along.
THREE UP
Charlie Coyle: It should come as no surprise that the Bruins are starting to heat up at about the same time when Coyle and Boston’s third line is hitting its stride. With his two goals in Saturday’s victory, Coyle is now up to five goals and 11 total points in his last 13 games.
Power Play: Another strong showing from Boston’s man advantage on Saturday, with both of Boston’s 5v4 tallies coming in just 26 seconds total seconds of action. DeBrusk and Bergeron’s tallies might not have been highlight-reel strikes, but getting sticks into shooting lanes led to plenty of success against Hill and the ‘Yotes.
https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1226261550442389504
Tuukka Rask: The Bruins have now captured at least a point (12-0-6) in every single one of Tuukka Rask’s starts at TD Garden so far this season. Rask’s 18-game point streak is the longest such stretch to open a season at home by a Boston goaltender in franchise history. Rask came up big down the stretch against the Coyotes, including a huge glove stop on Taylor Hall in the closing minutes of the night.
https://twitter.com/emarinofsky/status/1226275045611360257
ONE DOWN
Jeremy Lauzon: Lauzon only logged 5:06 of ice time on Saturday, as the young defenseman was tossed from the game at 19:39 in the first after getting assessed a match penalty for a hit to the head against Derek Stepan. It was a pointless hit delivered after Lauzon went wide on a clear shot against Hill, and it cost Boston a five-minute stretch on the PK and cut Boston’s D corps to five available skaters for the rest of the night.
https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1226248344764395520
It remains to be seen if Lauzon will be available for Boston’s matchup against Detroit on Sunday.
“Listen, I didn’t think it was a match penalty, personally. I don’t know the exact factors of, okay, hit to the head? Is it unsuspecting? Injury? That’s the only discussion I had with the official,” Cassidy said postgame. “He was adamant that the player was out. I was like well, okay, he got hurt but he’s in the game. He’s not out, out. There was a bit of a difference of opinion on that. At the end of the day, that’s what they called. I thought there was a very, very, very similar hit on [Charlie] McAvoy right after that that went a different direction. Again, that’ll be up to them now, the league. I think they tend to look at those after the fact and we’ll see what happens. "
Lawson Crouse hits Charlie McAvoy right in the head.
Only a minor. pic.twitter.com/pTPoepA5mm
— Evan Marinofsky (@emarinofsky) February 8, 2020