The Bruins had a successful six-game road trip out west.
Boston wrapped up its latest trip with a 5-4 shootout win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena.
The Bruins got help from up and down their lineup over the last six games with hat tricks from Jake DeBrusk and Craig Smith, goals from Erik Haula and stellar highlight-reel saves from Jeremy Swayman.
After all was said and done, the Bruins amassed 10 of 12 possible points and went 5-1-0 against some tough teams and now return to TD Garden on Monday to face the Los Angeles Kings, a team they just beat 7-0 while on the road.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy was pleased happy with how the trip turned out.
“I thought it was a real good trip,” Cassidy told reporters, per team-provided audio. “A lot of good hockey. (Saturday) we came from behind again similar to Anaheim. Even though we gave up a late goal we had a good push. I thought our guys were in a good place and then eventually came through. The only one that got away was Anaheim late, so we could have points there as well. I don’t think we stole any games by any means.
“So I thought we played good solid hockey in every city we visited. How it sets us up? That’s always a tough one to say. But I’d like to think our guys would get some confidence. Different guys stepped up from this trip. We had a great, great game from the (Charlie) Coyle line in Vegas and (Saturday), Smitty gets another one, Foligno makes a play, moves up a line, powerplay had struggled and gets us a late goal. So there’s different things I think that contributed. (Connor Clifton) makes a nice play to Smitty. So a lot of guys can feel good about themselves. And that’s what you want with your group to feel they can win every night.”
The Bruins hope to keep this momentum going as they look to gain more ground on the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division.
