The Boston Bruins power play was the difference in Thursday night’s 6-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks at TD Garden.
Boston was given a five-minute man advantage in the first period when Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson boarded B’s forward Frank Vatrano.
The Bruins scored three times on this power play to take a 4-1 first-period lead.
David Pastrnak’s brilliant end-to-end rush got the power-play scoring started. The 21-year-old right winger skated the full 200 feet and deked Canucks defenseman Michael Del Zotto before beating Vancouver goalie Anders Nilsson. Anders Bjork scored his second goal of the game just 23 seconds later, and David Krejci scored the final power-play tally — also his first goal of the campaign — to open a three-goal cushion.
The scoring onslaught marked the first time the Bruins had tallied three goals on one major-penalty power play in nearly nine years.
Patrice Bergeron added a fourth power-play goal for the Bruins to increase the lead to 6-3 in the third period.
The Bruins’ power play has been in fine form to start the season. They have a power-play goal in four of six games and a total of eight overall.
Boston scored 56 power-play goals last season, which was the eighth-most in the NHL. Their 21.7 percent conversion rate with the man advantage ranked seventh in the league.
This season’s unit has the potential to be even more potent, which would make the Bruins very dangerous because they’re already a strong 5-on-5 team.
Let’s take a look at more notes from Bruins-Canucks.
— Bergeron made his season debut, and it marked his 900th career NHL game. He ranks fifth on the team’s all-time games played leaderboard. Next up is Wayne Cashman at 1,027.
Bergeron scored a power-play goal and picked up three assists, moving him past Ken Hodge for seventh place on the Bruins’ career scoring leaderboard with 675 points.
— The Brad Marchand–Bergeron–Bjork trio was particularly impressive. Here are the line’s stats.
- Bergeron: 1 G, 3 A, 6 SOG, plus-6 Corsi at 5-on-5
- Marchand: 1 G, 2 A, 3 SOG, plus-6 Corsi at 5-on-5
- Bjork: 2 G, 1 A, 4 SOG, plus-8 Corsi at 5-on-5
— Marchand’s second-period goal was the 196th of his career, which moved him past Don McKenney and into 18th place on Boston’s career goals list.
— Just as two centers returned from injury, another left with one. Veteran centers David Backes and Bergeron made their season debuts Thursday, but Krejci left in the second period with an upper body injury and was ruled out of the game in the third frame. Krejci had scored a goal with one assist before departing.
Young center Ryan Spooner already is out four to six weeks with a groin injury.
— Thomas Vanek has played very well against the Bruins throughout his career. His second-period goal was his 33rd in 62 career games versus the B’s. He’s also tallied 34 career assists against Boston.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
