The Boston Bruins, offensively, have entered 2019-20 with plenty of rust to shake off.
But despite scoring three goals over their first two contests, the B’s sit with two wins thanks to phenomenal performances from Tuukka Rask and Jarsoslav Halak in goal. Halak was magnificent in the crease in his first outing of the new campaign, stopping 35 shots in a 1-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday at Gila River Arena.
It was Halak’s 48th career shutout, and it gave him a good jump on matching the five shutouts he posted last season.
Halak and Rask have combined to stop 63-of-64 shots they have faced through two games.
“Yeah both guys have been excellent. I think we knew that coming in,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy told Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley on NESN’s postgame coverage. “They both had real good preseasons, finished strong last year. Two good goalies, and two good pros. And we needed it. We’re not as clean, obviously as need to be or want to be, or will be down the road. But yeah, those guys have been sharp.”
You would be hard pressed to find a more reliable one-two punch in goal than Rask and Halak, and it might not seem like much considering it’s still October, but managing four points out of two games where the Bruins left plenty to be desired offensively certainly goes a long way regardless of what time of year it is.
Here are some other notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Coyotes game:
— Halak has been phenomenal when making starts in Arizona, and Saturday goes down as one of his best. It was his second career shutout at Gila River Arena.
NESN
— After looking rather sluggish in the season opener, the B’s top line got on the scoresheet on Saturday.
Brad Marchand scored on an assist from Patrice Bergeron and were much more active in the offensive zone.
The top line accounted for nine of the Bruins’ 26 shots on net.
“You started seeing them shooting the puck a little bit more. Attack, get to the middle of the ice and shoot it,” Cassidy said. “So, the other lines tonight, for whatever reason, were not able to sustain any of that. They weren’t able to get inside early.”
— David Krejci returned to the Bruins lineup after sitting the opener out with a lower body injury.
Krejci played 15:57 on ice and registered one shot on net.
— The Bruins penalty kill is operating at a pretty high clip to begin the season.
Boston came up with a couple of key kills Saturday, most notably early in the third period after Karson Kuhlman went off for an interference. Boston is 5-for-5 on making kills to begin the season.
— It was a rough night in the faceoff circle for Boston, getting edged out 65/35 percent by Arizona.
— Boston now has topped Arizona 15 straight times. The last time the Coyotes topped the B’s, it was in 2010 in Prague.
