The Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes 6-1 in Boston Thursday night. The win marks the Bruins’ sixth in their last eight games.
The Boston Bruins are finally getting healthy, and it’s showing on the ice. The Bruins ended November on a hot streak and have continued to play well in December. That didn’t stop Thursday either as Boston scored 6 goals, three in the third period, to silence the Coyotes.
Game Summary
Boston wasted no time to grab the lead in this one. Brad Marchand put the Bruins on the board just 15 seconds into the game off great assists from Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. However, Arizona hung around, limiting Boston to just 7 shots the rest of the period. The Coyotes tied the game with about three minutes left in the first after Brandon Carlo turned the puck over in the defensive zone.
The Coyotes continued to stifle the Bruins for half of the second period. Boston recorded their first shot on goal of the period with 9 minutes left. The Bruins did not look like a team that would score five more goals at that point.
Then, it was David Backes to the rescue. Backes scored his first goal of the season with 6 minutes left in the period with a great redirection off a Riley Nash shot. Three minutes later, Backes put the B’s up by two with a great wrist shot in the slot to beat ‘Yotes goaltender Scott Wedgewood.
Track it. Steal it. Shoot it. Goal.@dbackes42 did it all on his second of the night. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/l6BdbtOwZD
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 8, 2017
Thursday night was the culmination of Backes’ recovery from diverticulitis. Expected to miss eight weeks after colon surgery, Backes returned to the lineup in four when he played against Tampa Bay on November 29th. Scoring his first two goals of the season had to be a special moment for him and his family.
Backes’ two late second period goals kick started the Bruins’ offense heading into the third. Boston jumped on Arizona again early in the third period when David Krejci scored on a 5 on 3 power play to go up 4-1.
The Coyotes were done after that goal, but the Bruins weren’t. Boston played until the final buzzer, scoring two goals in the last two minutes. Danton Heinen and Anders Bjork added the goals to their rookie seasons to beat Arizona.
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Looking Ahead
The Boston Bruins will host the New York Islanders Saturday night. The Islanders will come to Boston as one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Can the Bruins continue to ride this momentum into Saturday and secure two more points? We’ll see Saturday at 7 pm.