David Pastrnak and Trent Frederic each scored twice as the host Boston Bruins cruised past the Colorado Avalanche 5-1 on Saturday night.
Boston tallied twice in the first period, once in the second and twice more within 10 seconds in the third to nab its third straight win and improve to 14-0-0 at home this season.
The 20-3-0 Bruins also matched the NHL record for fewest games to the 20-win mark in a season.
Pastrnak has 46 career multi-goal games while Frederic logged his first.
Jake DeBrusk capped the third-period scoring with his 100th NHL goal, and Charlie McAvoy added two assists for Boston. Linus Ullmark made 25 saves, improving to 14-1-0.
Andrew Cogliano scored and Pavel Francouz made 35 saves for Colorado.
In a battle of the league’s top two power plays, Boston finished 1-for-5 and Colorado went 0-for-3.
After his slap shot hit the post during Boston’s first power play, Pastrnak would not be denied the 58th game-opening goal of his career when he got another man-up opportunity.
The star winger took Brad Marchand’s cross-ice feed and ripped home a one-timer from the left circle with 6:11 remaining in the first period. Pastrnak has scored in five of his last six games.
Boston doubled its lead as Frederic banged in a rebound at the right post just 1:09 before intermission. Pavel Zacha and McAvoy connected for a give-and-go to set up Frederic’s first goal in exactly a month.
Pastrnak made it 3-0 at 4:48 of the second, taking a head pass from David Krejci on a breakaway and snapping it top shelf.
Tomas Nosek was stopped on a penalty shot with 2:51 left in what turned out to be a dominant middle frame for the Bruins. Their shot advantage was 15-5.
The visitors broke the shutout and cut their deficit to 3-1 at 6:32 of the third. Cogliano slotted in a loose puck in the low slot for his second goal in four games.
Late in the third, Boston capped the scoring with two goals in a 10-second span. Frederic one-timed Taylor Hall’s feed at 15:32 before DeBrusk banged in a rebound for the final goal.
–Field Level Media
