No Patrice Bergeron? No Zdeno Chara? No problem.
The Boston Bruins ended their losing streak Saturday night when they beat the Arizona Coyotes 2-1 at Gila River Arena. Boston scored two goals in the opening three minutes of the game and received 32 saves from Jaroslav Halak en route to its 11th win of the season.
The win comes after the B’s suffered back-to-back losses. The Black and Gold also were without their top-line center in Bergeron as well as a plethora of defensemen. But when players go down, their teammates step up. Such is the case for Brad Marchand, whose leadership didn’t go unnoticed by Bruce Cassidy
“I certainly liked Marchy,” Cassidy said as seen during NESN’s Bruins postgame coverage. “I think he knew the other night he was not his best and lost his composure. We had a conversation about that today and I thought he bounced back real well.”
The head coach noted Marchand’s leadership didn’t just happen on the ice.
“Some of the stuff you don’t see … on the bench, just talking,” Cassidy said. “I thought he was really trying to pick up for (Zdeno Chara) and (Patrice Bergeron) being out of the lineup.”
Marchand tallied an assist in the win to go with his four shots on goal over 21:37 of ice time.
Here are some other notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Coyotes game:
— Halak was spectacular in net after a rough game Wednesday night against the Colorado Avalanche when he surrendered six goals.
“Great bounce-back game. Two nights of terrific goaltending for us,” Cassidy said.
— It looked as if Boston was going to be down yet another defenseman when Steven Kampfer took a hard hit into the boards in the first. He went down the tunnel but was back on the Bruins’ bench to begin the second.
— The Bruins had a special visitor in the house Saturday night:
— Jeremy Lauzon had a huge save in the closing seconds of the third period when he batted away the puck to keep the Bruins’ 2-1 lead in tact.
— Torey Krug led all Boston skaters with 25:36 of ice time.
— Arizona’s lone goal came on a Connor Clifton turnover, but Cassidy said the “ill-advised play” is something the youngster will learn from.
“I think that’s his M.O.,” Cassidy said. “He’s got a short memory. He likes to impact the play. … It’s not all on him … he’ll learn from it, move on. … He competes and he’s got a lot of will and he wants to get back out there.”
