BOSTON — The Boston Bruins’ losing streak is done at two.
Boston scored the game-tying goal in the second and winner in the third en route to a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden on Thursday night.
Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots, while Jake Allen turned away 22.
Torey Krug, David Backes, Chris Wagner, Brad Marchand and Sean Kuraly (empty-netter) all lit the lamp for Boston, while Ryan O’Reilly and Carl Gunnarsson accounted for St. Louis’ tallies.
With the win, the Bruins improved to 27-16-5, while the Blues slipped to 20-21-5.
Here’s how it all went down:
BIG Z DROPS THE GLOVES
Neither team was able to score in the opening 20 minutes, but it did feature a tussle between two players.
With 2:30 left in the first, Zdeno Chara dropped the gloves with Patrick Maroon after he laid a big hit on Charlie McAvoy. The 6-foot-9 defenseman dropped the 6-foot-3 winger before both men headed down the tunnel for the remainder of the period.
Both teams had prime scoring opportunities, but Allen made some timely saves and Boston killed off a high-sticking penalty to keep the game scoreless.
B’S STRIKE FIRST
The Bruins drew their second penalty of the night when Peter Cehlarik was whistled for tripping just 1:01 into the second, but the Black and Gold killed it off.
Boston got the scoring started at the 3:31 mark thanks to some beautiful puck-handling in the defensive zone from David Krejci. He fed a pass to a wide-open Krug after carving up St. Louis’ defense, who then wristed the puck past Allen for the 1-0 lead.
The lead didn’t last long, however, as St. Louis tied it up just 52 seconds later when O’Reilly buried his own rebound.
The visitors doubled their lead after some nifty puck cycling in the attacking zone. Jaden Schwartz slid the puck over to Gunnarsson, who sent a rocket from the top corner past Rask for the 2-1 edge with 5:24 left in the middle frame.
Boston went on its first power play toward the end of the second and capitalized in a big way. Backes, who played for the Blues for his first 10 NHL seasons, was in the right place at the right time when Chara blasted a slap shot that Backes tipped in as he was falling down to the ice after getting shoved by Jay Bouwmeester.
The two teams headed to the third period knotted at two, with the B’s holding a slight 21-20 advantage in shots.
BOSTON SEALS IT
Wagner broke the stalemate 5:27 into the final 20 minutes after Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson sent him a pass in stride, allowing him to get behind the Blues defense for a breakaway before deking Allen to give the B’s a 3-2 advantage.
The B’s added some insurance with just over six minutes remaining when Marchand buried one at the doorstep to make it 4-2.
Kuraly added the empty-netter to seal the victory for Boston.
UP NEXT
The Bruins close out their two-game homestand Saturday night against the New York Rangers in what will be their last game before the All-Star break. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET.
This Bruins Wrap is brought to you by Plainridge Park Casino.
