One sign of a good, quality playoff hockey team is the ability for different players to rise to the occasion and lead on a nightly basis.
Sure, every hockey club has its superstar players that do superstar things on a regular basis, and any squad with postseason aspirations has to have its best players showing up and showing out pretty much all the time.
That was the case on Tuesday night when Viktor Arvidsson collected his first hat trick as a member of the Bruins and David Pastrnak notched three helpers on the way to a strong 6-3 win over a quality, dangerous Dallas Stars group at TD Garden.
“That’s a good team over there [in Dallas]. There’s a reason they are in the playoffs every year,” said Marco Sturm. “Things got close unfortunately in the second [period], but we found a way to win a big game tonight.
“Everybody is talking about the schedule and that the Bruins have the toughest schedule [to close the season]. And I think so too. But I think for us we play better when we play against better teams. For us, the playoffs already started a long time ago, and that’s a good thing for our team. We want to get challenged right now.”
But there were other players stepping up their game for the Black and Gold with Henrik Jokiharju scoring his first goal as a member of the B’s, Joonas Korpisalo once again putting together a strong game between the pipes as the backup and Elias Lindholm turning the game with a third period goal on the first shift coming out of intermission.
That one stings. Hyry wins the faceoff to open the period, but Boston gets the clear, comes down and scores early in the third with seconds left on the partial power play.
— Robert Tiffin (@RobertTiffin) April 1, 2026
3-2, Elias Lindholm beats Oettinger. pic.twitter.com/ki0JkXsb3r
It was in a similar vein to Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic stepping up and leading the way in last weekend’s momentous comeback road win over Columbus.
Tuesday night’s tally was a rare highlight moment for Jokiharju as it took until his 57th game as a member of the Bruins to light the lamp, but it was a beauty where he stepped up aggressively in the high slot and sniped one when a loose puck popped out to him.
“It’s a huge win and it feels good to get those personal goal kinds of things,” said Jokiharju of essentially becoming the last B’s regular to light the lamp this season. “At this time of year, I really just enjoy playing. I’ve never played in these kinds of [high-pressure] games at this time of year, so it’s so much of a different feeling than before.
“You just want to do whatever it takes for your team to win the game. Everybody is buying in and we have a good mood in the locker room, so we just have to keep working hard.”
Jokiharju 4-2 pic.twitter.com/MnTpszYZr6
— Mr. Tenkrat (@PeterTenkrat) April 1, 2026
The Korpisalo stop on a Jason Robertson breakaway bid in the second period was his highest degree of difficulty save, but Korpisalo was consistently strong behind a B’s team that only allowed 16 shots on net through the contest.
Clearly it’s been an up-and-down year for Korpisalo as his .889 save percentage – tied for 45th in the NHL this season – would attest to, but he’s finishing up strong while giving Swayman important rest days at this time of year.
“I think there was a little stretch [after the Olympics] where he was a little shaky there, but then he was back to the old ‘Korpi’. When you talk about schedule, it is really important to have two good goaltenders in this league,” said Sturm of the red-hot Jeremy Swayman and a goalie in Korpisalo that has helped the B’s earn points in four straight starts. “If you don’t then it’s gonna be hard…so we’re really luck to have two very good goalies who won us games, kept us in games and they give us a chance to win every single night.”
Lindholm now has five goals (and seven points) in his last six games and appears to be shaking off the post-Olympic doldrums that negatively impacted his game, a move helped by Marco Sturm dropping him into a third-line center position between Morgan Geekie and the speedy Lukas Reichel.
“First period we played well and the second period we knew they were going to come out better,” said Lindholm. “Obviously scoring a 3-2 goal right away [in the third period]…it was huge. Throughout this year and last year this team has been through a lot with a lot of ups and downs…and I think we are heating up at the right time. We’re playing some really good teams and we’re playing some good hockey, so we just need to keep it going.
“I’m just trying to keep it simple and be around the net a lot. I think our line has been playing some good hockey. Our top two lines have been playing some good hockey and won us a lot of games, and it’s time for us to step up. I thought we’ve been doing a pretty good job.
The Bruins now have a 98.2 percent chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs, per MoneyPuck.com, thanks to a 10-3-3 month of March, and have opened up a six-point cushion on the top wild card spot, along with an eight-point advantage for any playoff spot.
A 98.2 percent chance the Bruins make the playoffs after a 10-3-3 month of March. That is called earning it on the ice. https://t.co/FYvpAklpbr
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) April 1, 2026
While they are surging nearly every other team chasing them is struggling with the Red Wings, Senators and Islanders all watching different factors causing them to hit the skids.
There is perhaps no situation more confounding than with the Senators, who were streaking with an unstoppable fury until they ran into issues with old friend Linus Ullmark not playing over the weekend, and then getting pulled on Tuesday after allowing five goals on the first six shots he faced out of the gate.
I would be stunned if Ottawa doesn’t look to move off Linus Ullmark this summer pic.twitter.com/m8xOXeQUM8
— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) April 1, 2026
But the Senators (three losses in a row), Red Wings (3-6-1 in their last 10 games), Blue Jackets (four losses in a row) and Islanders (two losses in a row) have all now fallen back in the standings amidst hard times, and that’s allowing the Bruins to perhaps even threaten to break into the top three in the Atlantic Division.
Nobody could have ever envisioned that happening at the start of the season for the Black and Gold, but then again, nobody could have predicted that guys like Korpisalo, Jokiharju, and Elias Lindholm would be carrying the day in late-season wins for Boston as they elevate into a postseason berth.