The Boston Bruins offense exploded for five goals in an impressive win over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.
Boston’s top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith led the charge with a combined four points. This trio totaled two goals and four assists in the last two games of the road trip, which helped the Bruins score three or more goals in back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 6 and 10.
The B’s will head home for a brief homestand against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday and the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
Here are the “3 Stars” from Bruins-Coyotes:
No. 3 Star: Dougie Hamilton, Defenseman, Bruins
Hamilton earned his 11th and 12th assists of the season and tallied a team-leading five shots in 21:12 of ice time, which included 1:27 of power play and 2:21 of shorthanded ice time. The 21-year-old defenseman also did a nice job pinching in the attacking zone to maintain puck possession and anticipating passes in the neutral zone to stop the Coyotes’ rush up ice.
No. 2 Star: Reilly Smith, Right Wing, Bruins
Smith scored twice Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks and he followed that with another quality offensive performance versus the Coyotes. He picked up two assists, one on each of Brad Marchand’s goals, while also tallying two shots and a plus-4 Corsi at even strength (best among B’s forwards) in 15:30 of ice time.
No. 1 Star: Brad Marchand, Left Wing, Bruins
Marchand scored two even-strength goals, one at 0:58 of the first period and the other at 14:47 of the second frame. He leads the team with eight goals on the season and has posted five points (three goals, two assists) in the last four games. Marchand now has 13 two-goal games in his Bruins career.
He also tallied four shots, a plus-2 rating and five hits in 16:55 of ice time versus the Coyotes.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
