For just the third time since 1970, and for the first time since 1990, the Boston Bruins have kicked off the new season with four straight victories.

And this one required just about everything the Bruins had in the tank, from Jeremy Swayman’s 32 saves to what was yet another monstrous effort from Boston’s penalty kill. The latter was especially strong in a game where they needed to be, too, as the Black and Gold killed off all five penalties against before a garbage-time goal with 70 seconds left in the game put the Kings on the board with a power-play goal in what finished as a 4-2 win for Jim Montgomery’s squad.

• In a day that began with some drama — by mid-October standards, anyway — with Jake DeBrusk scratched from the B’s lineup after he arrived late to a team meeting, the Bruins got themselves centered early in this contest. And off a familiar stick, with David Pastrnak on the board with his fifth goal of the season, scored 13 minutes into the first period and with the Bruins up a man over Los Angeles.

  The goal pushed Pastrnak’s season-opening goal streak to four games, which is the longest by any Bruins skater since Dimitri Kvartalnov opened the 1992-93 season with goals in five straight games.

• A late night plate of 🍝 pic.twitter.com/eRIYU55DlS

  — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 22, 2023

• And though the Kings would knot things up at 1-1 on a breakaway marker from Alex Laferriere, the Bruins made sure they entered the second intermission with a multi-goal lead to their name, and did so with strikes from Morgan Geekie and Brad Marchand within a 48-second strike.

  Geekie’s strike, which came off a Derek Forbort blast that bounced off Milan Lucic’s leg and to his stick, was good for his first in a Boston uniform.

  Geekie gets one 🚨 pic.twitter.com/kPAqWpyf8p

  — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 22, 2023

  Marchand’s squeaker, meanwhile, was the Boston captain’s second strike in as many games.

• 

  LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 21: David Pastrnak #88 celebrates a goal with Charlie McAvoy #73 against the Los Angeles Kings in the first period at Crypto.com Arena on October 21, 2023. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

• The Bruins would ultimately add an insurance tally in the third frame with Marchand’s second of the night, but it was Swayman who continued to deliver, with stops on six of the seven third-period shots thrown his way to push him up to a 32-of-34 line by the night’s end.

  Swayman’s performance continued what’s been an excellent start to the season for both he and Linus Ullmark, as Boston’s one-two punch has posted four wins and a combined .949 save percentage out of the gate.

  With DeBrusk out, Patrick Brown slid into the Boston lineup and made his Bruins debut. The 31-year-old Brown, who skated on the B’s fourth line with Johnny Beecher and Jakub Lauko, finished Saturday’s contest with one shot and four hits, along with wins in three of his five battles at the dot, in just 9:03 of play.

  On the backend, Ian Mitchell stepped in for Kevin Shattenkirk and finished with 11:23 of time on ice.

  And like Randy Newman, the Bruins love LA. The Bruins have now won six straight games in LA over the Kings, which is tied for the longest unbeaten streak in Los Angeles in Bruins history, matching six-game streak (5-0-0-1) that ran from Jan. 30, 1969 to Oct. 14, 1970.

  The B’s will wrap up their Cali swing Sunday night in Anaheim.

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