The Boston Bruins’ streak of futility against Western Conference powers came to an end Saturday night as Boston stormed back from a two-goal deficit to knock off the high-powered Dallas Stars in the finale of their season-long six-game road trip.
Brad Marchand scored twice and added an assist, and 11 different Bruins players finished with at least one point as Boston tallied the final six goals in a 7-3 victory at the American Airlines Center.
The Bruins entered the game 1-8-0 this season against teams currently inside the playoff picture in the West.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
David Krejci the second of Boston’s three power-play goals to give the Bruins a 5-3 lead in the third period.
The Bruins failed to score a single power-play goal in the first five games of their trip, going 0-for-19 on the man advantage.
Tuukka Rask (26 saves) kept the Stars off the board the rest of the way, and Brett Connolly and Matt Beleskey added insurance goals to put a bow on one of the Bruins’ most impressive wins of the season.
Patrice Bergeron finished with two assists to reach the 600-point plateau for his career.
SPOONER SICK
Center Ryan Spooner missed his first game of the season as he battled an illness. Joonas Kemppainen replaced Spooner on the third line, and Max Talbot was inserted back into the lineup to fill the void on the fourth line. Winger Zac Rinaldo joined Talbot on that fourth line, replacing Tyler Randell.
Defenseman Zach Trotman also sat out as a healthy scratch, with Joe Morrow returning to action after a three-game absence. Kevan Miller took Trotman’s usual spot alongside Zdeno Chara on Boston’s top pairing.
BACK ON TRACK
After going scoreless in games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Nashville Predators, Marchand got back to his goal-scoring ways in the first period.
With Boston trailing 1-0, the Bruins winger outraced Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski to puck and flipped a shot past goalie Kari Lehtonen for his 29th goal of the season, setting a new career high.
Marchand, who leads the Bruins in goals this season, had scored 13 in 13 games before his two-game mini-slump. Connolly and Bergeron assisted on his effort.
CONTROVERSIAL FLURRY
Marchand’s goal came in the midst of a five-minute sequence that featured a trifecta of Dallas tallies, including two that had coach Claude Julien steaming on the Bruins’ bench.
Less than two minutes after Marchand tied the game, Antoine Roussel scored to put the Stars back ahead. Julien challenged the play, arguing that Roussel had interfered with Rask in the crease. The referees did not view it that way, however, and the goal stood.
Dallas’ third goal also was the subject of much debate. Rask initially stonewalled Patrick Sharp on a breakaway, then swiped the puck off the goal line after it trickled between his legs.
That’s when things got weird. The puck then bounced off the skate of Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid and over the goal line, but only after McQuaid knocked the net off its moorings by crashing into the post. Typically, a goal that’s scored while the net is unhinged would not count, but the officials ruled that McQuaid had intentionally knocked it loose.
Thus, Sharp was credited with a goal — the Stars’ second in 44 seconds.
BATTLING BACK
The Bruins’ responded to the Stars’ flurry of goals with one of their own a period later. Marchand potted his second of the night to reach the 30-goal plateau for the first time in his career, and Miller scored a wacky, bouncing goal just 35 seconds later to tie the game at 3-3.
Marchand now has 20 points (15 goals, five assists) in his last 17 games, and his latest effort also was the Bruins’ first power-play goal of their road trip.
The Bruins weren’t done, though. Loui Eriksson, who came to the Bruins from Dallas in the Tyler Seguin trade, jammed the puck through Lehtonen with less than a minute remaining in the second period to give the B’s their first lead of the night.
The play was subjected to yet another review, as on-ice officials initially ruled that Eriksson had kicked the puck in. Replays clearly showed that was not the case, and the winger was awarded his fifth goal in six games.
The second period also featured the game’s only fight, with Roussel completing a Gordie Howe hat trick by scrapping with McQuaid.
UP NEXT
The Bruins finally are headed home. They’ll look to complete a season sweep of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night at TD Garden.
Thumbnail photo via Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports Images
