Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

  • The Bruins avenged last Monday’s streak-snapping shootout loss to the Golden Knights — and in style — with three straight goals on the way to a 3-1 win over Bruce Cassidy’s club Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.

    The victory not only brought the sides back even in the season series, but also made it four straight wins in Vegas for the Bruins, and kept the Bruins without a losing streak to their name in 2022-23.

    And with the sides knotted up at 1-1 through 40 minutes of play, it was a high-effort, high-skill play from Taylor Hall, Pavel Zacha, and Jake DeBrusk that ultimately pushed the Bruins out front for the win.

    It all started with a neutral-zone foot race victory and chip pass from Hall to Zacha, and it was Zacha who came through with an excellent saucer pass to DeBrusk for a No. 74 blast through Logan Thompson.

  • Finally playing with a lead to their name for the first time all night, the Bruins were almost immediately into defense mode, as the Golden Knights went to the power play just 2:32 after DeBrusk’s tally.

    Led by some phenomenal goaltending from Linus Ullmark, and with some fortunate bounces along the way, the Bruins killed off a desperate Vegas power-play opportunity, and put themselves up by two at the 9:04 mark of the third period with a Charlie Coyle shot through traffic and Thompson.

    It was the back-breaking kind of marker the Bruins needed, especially on the road, and with the sour taste of Friday’s brutal loss to the ‘Yotes still fresh on their minds.

  • The play of the 6-foot-5 Ullmark was really the story in this game, too, as he turned aside all 14 third-period shots from the Golden Knights in this contest, and finished with saves on 30 of the 31 shots faced in the win.

    The win improved Ullmark to 16-1-0 on the season, and only further padded his (already league-leading) stats, with his goals against average dropping from 1.82 to 1.77 and his save percentage going from .939 to .941.

    In front of Ullmark, Patrice Bergeron opened things up with his 10th goal of the season, while the B’s were led in the hit department by Connor Clifton and his seven hits, including a huge hit on Vegas captain Mark Stone during the Black and Gold’s third-period penalty kill.

  • Dec 11, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) deflects a centering pass from Vegas Golden Knights center Nicolas Roy (10) as Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) defends his net during the second period at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports

    Dec 11, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) deflects a centering pass from Vegas Golden Knights center Nicolas Roy (10) as Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) defends his net during the second period at T-Mobile Arena. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)

  • On the injury front, the Bruins did play this game without second-line center David Krejci. The veteran Krejci was clearly dealing with something in the first period of Friday’s loss to the Coyotes, and was given Saturday off from the ice with what the team called a ‘maintenance day’ before they ruled him out for this contest.

    Word from the Bruins is that it’s a lower-body injury and that Krejci is considered day-to-day, and could be ready to return to action for Tuesday’s head-to-head with the Islanders.

    With Krejci out, A.J. Greer returned to action.

    On the Vegas side of things, Jack Eichel missed this contest for the Golden Knights, meaning that the Chelmsford, Mass. native will not play against his hometown team in the regular season in 2022-23.

    The Bruins will spend the night in Vegas and fly back to Boston on Monday in preparation of a five-game homestand that’ll begin with with a Tuesday night meeting with the Islanders.

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