HEADLINES
Frederic's two goals pushes Bruins past Kings in Los Angeles: Have a night Trent Frederic.
Two third-period goals 34 seconds apart highlighted an eventful outing for the bruising forward in the Bruins' 5-2 win against the Kings on Thursday.
Frederic finished the game with a couple of goals and a fight to his name after dropping the gloves with Kings' forward Brendan Lemieux in the second period.
Trent Frederic and Brendan Lemieux with a helluva fight: pic.twitter.com/Gd9myKNoJU
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) January 6, 2023
David Pastrnak also potted a pair of goals to push his season total to 27 while Brad Marchand helped turn the tide of the game with a power-play marker in the middle stanza.
Jeremy Swayman pushed through a shaky second to pick up the 27-save victory in net for Boston (30-4-4).
Philip Danault had the hosts ahead in the first period after beating Swayman in-tight after taking a cross-ice pass from Alex Iafallo. Danault's 13th of the season was the only goal of opening frame.
Pastrnak kickstarted the B's offense in the second with a snapshot in the slot to even the score at 1-1. Marchand proceeded to make it 2-1 for the Bruins on the power play 2:21 after Pastrnak's.
The Kings responded exactly 2:21 later with Sean Durzi's one-timer from the left point that squeaked through Swayman. Los Angeles rounded out the 40 minutes with a decided 21-14 advantage in shots.
It was all Boston in the final period has goals from Frederic (2) and Pastrnak helped the B's earn at least one point for the 12th consecutive game.
THUMBS UP
Derek Forbort paced Bruins skaters in plus/minus (plus-3) and blocks (five) in the win versus the Kings. The hefty defenseman also helped keep L.A. from converting on its only power play of the affair as one of the stalwarts on the B's penalty kill.
The left-shot defenseman continues to be an underrated aspect of this successful Bruins season.
THUMBS DOWN
David Krejci looked like he was still adjusting to the pacific time zone on Thursday as the veteran center didn't have much of an impact on the game. Krejci didn't register a shot and won only 37.5 percent of faceoffs in the win.
The performance put an end to a two-game point streak for No. 46.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The Kings were thiiiiiiiis close to going ahead 3-2 in the second period. Swayman had other ideas.
Jeremy Swayman makes a save on Viktor Arvidsson in the 2nd period #LAKvsBOS #GoKingsGo #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/28gFepdPbc
— nopClips (@nopClips) January 6, 2023
AROUND THE ATLANTIC
The Maple Leafs hold down second place in the division standings, but fell further back to the Bruins after losing to the Seattle Kraken, 5-1, on Thursday in Toronto. John Tavares scored the Maple Leafs only goal, yet Toronto finished the game with more shots (27-26) than the Kraken.
Seattle scored four of its goals in the second period to grab the victory. Vince Dunn finished the game with three points to lead the Kraken.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins will travel to San Jose and face the rebuilding Sharks on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 10:30 p.m. Erik Karlsson will be one to watch as the defenseman is currently third in the league in assists (40) and sixth in points (53).