The Boston Bruins pulled away with a narrow 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at TD Garden on Saturday.
The Bruins moved to 24-4-2 on the season, and the Blue Jackets fell to 10-18-2.
Check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Bruins hoped to bounce back from a shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings heading into Saturday, and it would cap off a day when the team honored Patrice Bergeron for his milestone of 1,000 career points. But the Blue Jackets didn't make it easy. David Krejci helped give the Black and Gold a one-goal cushion in the second period, but penalties helped keep Columbus in the game. Boston held the Blue Jackets to 2-for-5 on the power play thanks to their play on special teams and goalie Jeremy Swayman.
Columbus was threatening, especially with its goalie Daniil Tarasov continuously denying the Bruins.
Until the third period came.
Boston had an NHL-best plus-24 goal differential in the third period, and the Bruins improved that mark with two goals in 19 seconds to build on their lead. Taylor Hall kept his hot streak going with a goal that came at 12:41 in the third period when the B's had six skaters on the ice due to a delayed penalty. The Bruins kept the pressure, and Tomas Nosek scored at 13:00 in the final period.
STARS OF THE GAME
-- David Pastrnak scored his 20th goal of the season with a power-play in the first period. The right winger also tallied an assist on Hall's goal -- his 22nd of the season.
-- Hall has been on a stellar run in the month of December. He kept that going with two points on the afternoon -- one goal and one assist to stretch his point streak to four games.
-- Krejci matched Hall with two points, and his goal in the second period proved to be the decider to help Boston remain one of the NHL's top home teams.
WAGER WATCH
Pastrnak had +700 odds to score the first goal in Saturday's game at DraftKings Sportsbook. A $100 bet would have paid out $800.
UP NEXT ON NESN
The Bruins will stay at TD Garden and welcome in the Florida Panthers on Monday. Puck drop is scheduled at 7 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action, along with an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
