Patrice Bergeron, the B's locker-room leader in points, potted four assists in the win to give Boston its first three-game winning streak of the season, despite getting outshot by the Blues 31-23. St. Louis managed to tie things up twice in the contest before the Black and Gold took a two-goal lead with a shorthanded third-period tally.
Bruins 4, Blues 2
Scottrade Center, St Louis, Mo.
Nov. 23, 2009
Headliner: Patrice Bergeron set up all four Bruins goals as he improved his team-high points total to 18 and now has 11 helpers on the season. Bergeron assisted Mark Recchi and Blake Wheeler on power plays before setting up Milan Lucic when the teams were at even strength in the second. Bergie picked up his final assist the hard way as he hooked up winger Marco Sturm with a shorthanded tally in the third.
Grinder: Tuukka Rask kicked aside 29 of 31 shots as he captured his third straight victory and the fifth in his last six starts in improving his record to 6-2-1. Rask outperformed one of last year's Vezina finalists, Chris Mason, as the Blues backstop saved just 19 shots.
Weak Link: The Blues man advantage went 0-for-3 and was unable to find the back of the net during two vital third-period power plays.
Key Moment: After the Blues knotted things up at two in the second period, winger Milan Lucic got the B's their third lead of the night with under eight minutes to go in the frame when he tipped in a Zdeno Chara slap shot from the point. It was Lucic's second goal of the season and second in as many games.
What’s Next: Boston has one more stop before returning home as the Black and Gold head up to Minnesota for a Wednesday-night tilt with the Wild.
After barely missing out on the postseason last year, the Wild are struggling out of the gate and own a 8-12-2 record (18 points), putting them second to last in the Western Conference.
Left winger Andrew Brunette leads the team with seven tallies while Mikko Koivu has a team-high 15 helpers and 21 points. Goalie Niklas Backstrom, who was edged by Tim Thomas last year for the Vezina Trophy, owns an 8-9-2 record to go with a 2.66 GAA. The Bruins topped the third Vezina finalist on Monday night in St. Louis in Chris Mason.
