Coming off a disappointing 6-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night on the road, the Boston Bruins returned to the TD Garden to play the second and final game of the season against former coach Bruce Cassidy and the Vegas Golden Knights. It was the perfect start for the Black and Gold, who raced out to a 3-0 first-period advantage. However, the game is never over with Vegas until the 60 minutes are up.
Leading 4-0 going into the third period, the Bruins had to survive a Vegas onslaught to hang on for a one-goal win in the game that really shouldn't have been that close. A win is a win in the NHL, but it was not the final 20 minutes that head coach Marco Sturm would like. That's where we'll begin the three takeaways from Boston's win.
Bruins survive bad third period
The Bruins are lucky that there were not another minute or two left in the game, or the Golden Knights might have tied the game. Boston was outshot 20-5 in the final 20 minutes, and things got tight early and often. Jack Eichel scored 31 seconds into the period. They had a rather soft roughing call to Marat Khusnutdinov, which led to a Tomas Hertl power-play goal.
Boston survived another Vegas power play, but couldn't tip the ice at all in the period. It led to a Pavel Dorofeyev goal with just over two minutes remaining. Boston was able to survive the rest of the game thanks to Joonas Korpisalo, who finished with 30 saves in the game.
The third period was just not good. It was almost not good enough. It would have been a very tough loss to swallow if the Golden Knights finished the comeback. The Bruins struggled getting the puck out of their own end and defending without confidence. Again, a win is a win.
Bruins first-period onslaught was the difference
Boston dominated the first period, outshooting Vegas, 15-4, and benefited from a double-minor penalty, which kick-started three goals in less than a minute. It was something that the Bruins fans had been waiting to see.
Charlie McAvoy got the scoring started when his shot from the point found its way through a screen and into the net. Thirty seconds later, Elias Lindholm one-timed a pass in the slot from David Pastrnak for a 2-0 lead. Then Tanner Jeannot scored 24 seconds later when his shot from the left circle found its way through Golden Knights' goalie Akira Schmidt for a 3-0 lead.
7️⃣3️⃣ STARTED IT pic.twitter.com/Bdyv6JixUQ
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 23, 2026
Pastrnak gave the Black and Gold a 4-0 lead in the second period when defenseman Nikita Zadorov made a nice play off the rush and fed Pastrnak, who one-timed a shot inside the post. I must say, it was an impressive offensive play from Zadorov.
Bruins win the special teams battle
Vegas has a scary power play, and it was imperative that the Bruins didn't get caught up in giving them power plays. They survived the first one early in the game before Boston scored two, 30 seconds apart, on the double-minor.
Vegas got two shots in the third period and scored on one of them, but Boston survived the second one. The final 20 minutes are not going to be used much by the Bruins coaching staff as an example of how to close out a game. Winning the special teams battle against one of the top groups in the league was the difference.