There were some hiccups along the way, and the Bruins themselves know that there’s more work to be done, but when the final horn sounded at TD Garden on Saturday afternoon, the Bruins used a Saturday matinee showdown with the last-place Blue Jackets as the ‘get right’ game that it needed to be.

Following a Thursday loss that saw the Bruins go 1-for-6 on the man advantage, and fumble a chance to ice the game with two third-period power-play attempts that came back to haunt them, the Bruins torched Columbus for a pair of power-play goals, and added a borderline power-play goal on a goal scored on a delayed penalty.

The Bruins also failed to let the Blue Jackets hang around long enough to pull an L.A. Kings on ’em, and instead buried the battered Blue Jackets with two goals in 19 seconds 12 minutes into the third period of play.

And most of all, the Bruins remained a team without a regulation loss at home this season, as the 4-2 victory pushed the Bruins to an absolutely ridiculous 16-0-2 on Causeway this season.

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars of the game from another win on Garden ice…

No. 3 Star: David Pastrnak

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – OCTOBER 17: David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins celebrates after scoring a goal against the Florida Panthers during the third period at TD Garden on October 17, 2022. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Bruins winger David Pastrnak made sure the Bruins kicked this one off on the right foot, as the all-world winger confirmed that it was indeed a Spaghetti Saturday by way of his game-opening power-play marker.

The goal was good for Pastrnak’s 20th of the season, and made it seven straight seasons of at least 20 goals for Pastrnak.

Only five players in Bruins history have posted longer such streaks, and that list includes Phil Esposito (eight), Rick Middleton (nine), Brad Marchand (nine), Patrice Bergeron (nine), and Johnny Bucyk (10). Fantastic company, to say the least. It also continued what’s been a downright disgusting start to the 2022-23 season for Pastrnak, as he’s now scored in 16 of his 30 appearances to date, and has record at least one point in all but four games this season.

And Pastrnak made sure he had more than just a goal in this contest, too, as he absolutely smashed the puck that bounced right in front of Taylor Hall for Boston’s third goal of the game (a huge goal), and picked up an apple on the play. Pastrnak also led all Boston shooters in shot attempts, with 13. The next closest player (Hall) had seven attempts.

Give. That. Man. His. Bag. Of. Money.

No. 2 Star: David Krejci

Oct 15, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center David Krejci (46) gets ready for a face-off during the third period against the Arizona Coyotes at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)

Following a quiet return to action Thursday night after missing the previous two games with a lower-body injury, David Krejci looked like, well, David Krejci in Saturday’s win over the Blue Jackets.

On the board with a goal and an assist in the victory, Krejci’s power-play bomb through the Jackets’ Daniil Tarasov was his first goal since a two-goal performance against the Hurricanes back on Nov. 25. And in addition to the point production, good things happened with Krejci on the ice, as the Bruins out-attempted Columbus by a 19-9 mark (a 67.86 corsi-for percentage) in just under 13 minutes of five-on-five play with No. 46 on the ice.

Krejci was also a monster in the faceoff department in this contest, too, with wins in 12 of his 14 battles at the dot, including a perfect 7-for-7 mark in the attacking zone.

No. 1 Star: Jeremy Swayman

Dec 17, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) makes a glove save during the first period against the Columbus Blue Jackets at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)

Losing a Dec. 9 showdown with the Coyotes behind a 12-of-16 performance, B’s netminder Jeremy Swayman had spent the last three games on the bench as Linus Ullmark’s backup in what was the clearest sign yet that the Bruins’ situation in goal has slowly-but-surely morphed from a 1A-1B situation to a more ‘traditional’ No. 1 and No. 2 situation.

So, let’s not kid ourselves here, the 24-year-old Swayman desperately needed a game like the one he put together Saturday afternoon against the Blue Jackets.

In what finished as a 31-save victory for Swayman, it took the Bruins being down a man for the Blue Jackets to solve him. (Weird, relatively unexplainable stat for you while we’re here: Columbus entered today with a 2-for-28 mark on the power play on the road this season, and went 2-for-5 on the man advantage today alone.) And Swayman was strong from in-tight throughout the day, too, and failed to give the Blue Jackets any adrenaline-boosting cheapies.

“I thought he was our best player, and I think he needed to be,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Very confident, very confident in his movements. I don’t know the position [well enough] to be able to tell him, like ‘selection saves’ and all that stuff. That’s Goalie Bob’s job. But mentally, when a goalie is on top, he’s taking whistles at the right moments, tries to go for that empty-net goal. That’s a sign of someone that I guess the game is going slow for, which is what you want mentally.”

Swayman was feeling himself so much that he even made a bid for what would’ve been the first goalie goal in team history.

“I want to score so bad, man,” Swayman admitted. “It will happen, it will.”

But beyond the attempt at the yawning cage, Swayman had to feel great about getting this victory.

“I was excited; Saturday at home, big two points,” Swayman said. “We don’t lose two in a row.”

Asked what he worked on in between starts, Swayman acknowledged ‘everything,’ which is nothing new.

“If you have a good game, you work hard [and] you get better. If you have a bad game, you work hard [and] you get better,” Swayman said. “That’s something I’ve been doing this year. It’s been ups and downs. And I’m grateful for that. I’m grateful for the ups and downs I’ve had, and the learning lessons I’ve had early on.”

Now comes seeing if Swayman, who has had to battle through a difficult schedule in terms of getting into a rhythm with starts every five to six days, can string this performance into something more than a one-off.