The Bruins taking 10 out of a possible 12 points on a 12-day, six-game road trip that spanned the west coast certainly is something to be happy about.
Boston put a bow on its latest swing Saturday night with a 5-4 shootout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
Saturday's win by no means was easy. Patrice Bergeron put the Bruins ahead in the third period before Jakub Voracek tied it at 4-4 with just 1.8 seconds to go in regulation. Five minutes of overtime wasn't enough, but David Pastrnak put the game away in Round 3 of the shootout.
It was a full-team effort Saturday, as well as the entire road trip, with secondary scoring really coming up big over the last six games.
"It's great to see the chemistry from one line to the next, it's been great," Bergeron told Sophia Jurksztowicz after the game, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "Some nice consistency going on right now from one line to another. When we play together, everyone is chipping in and finding ways, we're a tough team to beat. ... Tonight wasn't easy … We stuck with it and we got the result."
This trip was a crucial time for the Black and Gold to pick up some ground in the Atlantic Division and build a cushion between them and the Washington Capitals for the top wild-card spot. The Bruins now find themselves just two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place.
Here are some other notes from Saturday's Bruins-Blue Jackets game:
-- The power play picked a great time to finally break through.
With the game tied at 3-3 in the third period, Bergeron scored the go-ahead goal. While it wasn't quite enough to put the game away after 60 minutes, it still was a crucial time to light the lamp.
The power play has been struggling of late, recently enduring an ugly 0-for-19 stretch and couldn't capitalize on the first opportunity earlier in the game.
-- Jake DeBrusk continued to play some of his best hockey Saturday night.
The forward opened the scoring in the first period to give him eight goals in as many games. The road trip was kind to DeBrusk, who tallied six goals, two assists and 19 shots on goal.
-- Erik Haula and Craig Smith also added goals to keep the secondary scoring hot.
-- Jeremy Swayman, once again, turned in a solid performance with 20 saves.
Over his last eight starts, the rookie goalie has posted a 7-0-1 record, 1.34 goals-against average and .953 save percentage with two shutouts.
-- The Bruins return to action Monday night when they welcome the Los Angles Kings to TD Garden. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET on NESN.
