By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
A weekend of bad habits and even worse luck for the Boston Bruins sorted itself in the first period of Tuesday’s head-to-head with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
And all it took in a 6-2 final at Nationwide Arena was a series of pinball bounces between Sergei Bobrovsky and the net behind him.
“The first one was Toucher and Rich. Thanks boys,” DeBrusk said of Boston’s first goal, only further cementing the fact that the T&R bump is as real as anything in sports. “I’ve been getting some luck and execution at the right times.”
But the Bruins were not done, as Marcus Johansson converted for his first goal in a Boston uniform, scored 17:27 into the period.
Marcus Johansson gets his first as a Bruin!!!! 2-0 #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/R2gXxcQLOC
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) April 2, 2019
With a 2-0 edge through 20 minutes of play, the Bruins truly put this game to bed (and chased Bobrovsky) with two goals in a 46-second stretch, with strikes from Brad Marchand and another from DeBrusk.
And as if that wasn’t enough, the Bruins extended their edge to five behind a David Pastrnak goal just 34 seconds into the third period. The goal was Pastrnak’s 37th goal of the season, but more importantly featured Marchand’s 100th point of the season. That made Marchand the first Bruins player to record 100 points in a season since Joe Thornton accomplished the feat in 2002-03, and just the third player in the last 25 years to record at least 100 points for the B’s (Adam Oates also reached the 100-point mark with the B’s behind a 112-point season in 1993-94).
Down by five, the Blue Jackets finally got on the board in the third period behind Oliver Bjorkstrand’s power-play strike with 14:09 left in the third period. The goal was good for Bjorkstrand’s 22nd goal of the year, and gave him goals in six straight games.
But the Bruins made sure it didn’t matter — even when the Jackets made it a 5-2 — with the Karson Kuhlman tally that made this a 6-2 contest 10:28 into the third period.
B’s netminder Tuukka Rask stopped 32-of-34 in the win.
With this victory and Toronto’s 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes, the Bruins officially clinched home-ice in round one.
The Bruins will skate in their penultimate regular-season contest on Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild.