The Boston Bruins’ 2019-20 season is off to a great start, and it continued Saturday night at TD Garden.
Ottawa didn’t make things easy, but the Bruins were able to use a three-goal third period to get past the Senators 5-2, extending their winning streak to five games.
David Pastrnak collected a goal and two assists, further improving his league-leading goal total to 13. Boston’s top line of Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron combined for seven points in the win.
Bergeron picked up his 500th career assist along the way, making him the sixth player in Bruins history to collect 500 helpers in a Boston uniform.
With the win, the Bruins moved to 10-1-2, while the Senators slipped to 3-8-1.
Here’s how it all went down:
PASTA’S ROLL CONTINUES
It did not take long for Pastrnak to find the back of the net, which has become quite the trend early on this season.
The star right winger crashed the net to push his 13th goal of the season past Craig Anderson, giving Boston an early 1-0 lead.
The game took a grim turn, however, just minutes later, when Scott Sabourin laid a hit on David Backes. Sabourin appeared to lose consciousness after colliding with Backes, which caused his head to directly hit the ice and break his fall. Medical staff, accompanied by a stretcher, immediately raced out to attend to the right winger, who left the ice after a 10-plus minute stoppage. Both teams emptied their benches and stood on the ice as Sabourin was stretchered off.
The Senators provided the following positive update on Sabourin just before the start of the second period:
Backes, clearly shaken both emotionally from the seriousness of Sabourin’s injury and physically from the collision itself, left for the locker room shortly thereafter. He was later ruled out for the remainder of the game with an upper body injury, per the Bruins.
Ottawa knotted the game at one with 7:56 left in the first period on Anthony Duclair’s fifth goal of the season.
The Bruins stumbled a bit after the goal, going five minutes without a shot on net. They’d still head into the break with an 11-6 advantage in that department, but the score remained tied at one.
FIRST-LINE PRODUCTION CONTINUES
Boston received another goal from its top trio early in the second, when Pastrnak delivered a pretty pass to Bergeron who potted his sixth of the season to put the Bruins ahead 2-1.
But the lead wouldn’t last long, as Connor Brown answered for Ottawa to tie the game at two with 16:56 left in the period.
The Bruins found themselves on the short end of a 5-on-3 after Brad Marchand was tagged with two minutes for hooking and an additional four for spearing. Despite the difficult spot, Boston was able to kill off all six minutes, receiving praise from the TD Garden crowd.
Both teams had 21 shots after two and entered the final frame locked at two.
FINISHING STRONG
The Bruins grabbed the lead back just 5:43 into the third period when Jake DeBrusk’s effort on the forecheck allowed Danton Heinen to make a push toward the net. He made it count, potting his third goal of the year to give Boston a 3-2 lead.
Marchand added a goal of his own a little over one minute later off a ridiculous power-play feed from Pastrnak. The pretty pass gave him his 14th assist of the season and led to Marchand’s eighth goal through 13 games.
Bergeron was credited with a secondary assist on the goal, which was the 500th of his impressive career. He’s only the sixth player in Bruins history to record 500-plus assists in a Boston uniform.
DeBrusk added Boston’s fifth goal of the night, his second of the season, on a one-timer from Heinen, solidifying the Bruins’ fifth consecutive win.
UP NEXT
The Bruins welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins to TD Garden on Monday, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. ET.
