36-18-5
The Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night at TD Garden, 3-2, thanks to Charlie Coyle roofing the backhanded game-winning goal with 3:21 left in the game.
Boston now is 36-18-5, while Arizona dipped to 18-36-4 and had its four-game win streak snapped.
You can check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Bruins don’t seem to be a one-line team anymore.
This was a narrative surrounding Boston for the last few seasons with how dominant Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak were together. But head coach Bruce Cassidy broke them up in January and Pastrnak has seemed to return to form and found strong chemistry with Taylor Hall and Erik Haula, and the Craig Smith-Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic line is cooking with gas, as showcased by Smith’s two-goal night and Coyle’s game-winner off a nice rush.
The B’s still struggled with giving up a late goal, this time it was with 0.5 seconds left in the second period to cut their lead in half.
Boston still is finding ways to win games, but the Bruins would make things easier on themselves if they were able to close out periods.
But two points is two points and now the B’s are two behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division.
THREE STARS
— Smith continues to be a force for the Bruins and potted two goals in the first period and now has seven tallies in his last five games.
When you’re hot you’re hot, and Smith is showing no signs of slowing down.
— Pastrnak certainly made his presence known on the ice. He may not have had any goals or assists, but Pastrnak registered seven shots on goal and had a stellar block in the second period to deny a potential Coyotes scoring chance.
— Both goalies stood on their heads for their teams. Jeremy Swayman continued to make highlight-reel saves, while Karel Vejmelka really kept the Coyotes in it.
But in the end, it was Swayman who made that one extra save.
WAGER WATCH
Smith was +1700 to be the first goal scorer of the game. So if you took that bet on DraftKings Sportsbook, you made out pretty nice about halfway through the first period.
UP NEXT ON NESN
The Bruins return to action Tuesday night when they travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks. Puck drop is set for 8:30 p.m. ET, and you can catch an hour of pre- and postgame coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. on NESN.