The Boston Bruins needed to show something, anything really, as their West Coast road trip moved into Vancouver on Saturday night.
They were were living in a nightmare to begin their measuring stick stretch of games, suffering back-to-back blowout losses by a combined 13-2 margin. A third straight defeat by a lopsided amount would have sent dark clouds circling the team.
Instead, the Bruins awoke in Vancouver and delivered a much-needed response against the Canucks.
The Bruins played one of their most complete games of the season, riding the momentum of two first-period goals to bury the Canucks, 5-1, at Rogers Arena.
Jumping out to a quick start was imperative for the Bruins, who hadn’t held a lead in regulation since Dec. 4 against the Chicago Blackhawks. Brad Marchand opened the scoring 5:12 into the first period as David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm set up the Bruins captain on the power play. The early goal signaled this game would be different for the Bruins than their matchups against the Winnipeg Jets and Seattle Kraken. Morgan Geekie’s tally, nearly three minutes after Marchand scored, only cemented that notion and gave the Bruins as many goals as they scored in their previous two games.
The Bruins could have eased up and relied on Jeremy Swayman, who was strong in net with 19 saves, to bring home the win. But Boston kept pushing offensively, scoring just 1:12 into the second period when Pastrnak gathered a puck along the boards around center ice and dished a terrific feed to send Pavel Zacha in all alone to beat Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko. It was Pastrnak’s third assist of the game and he added a third-period goal for a four-point night.
Boston kept the pressure on Demko, scoring twice more to cruise to a win. Demko, who made just his second start of the season after missing two months due to recovery from a knee injury, certainly was an interesting choice to start between the pipes after Kevin Lankinen notched a 33-save shutout against the Bruins almost three weeks ago on the TD Garden ice.
Vancouver just seems to be a good matchup for Boston. The Bruins outshot the Canucks, 33-14, in the first matchup but had nothing to show for it in a 2-0 loss. This time around, they saw the fruits of their labor.
And by exiting Vancouver with a resounding win, the Bruins put themselves in a much better position to change the outlook of this pivotal road trip, especially if they can get points in their matchups with the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers before heading back to Boston.
