The Boston Bruins will return home to play the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche in an afternoon contest Monday.
Boston has played its past four games on the road (2-1-1), bookending the stretch with wins against the Atlantic Division rival Ottawa Senators. A shootout loss to the New York Rangers and a regulation loss to the Islanders came in between.
David Pastrnak scored 2:42 into overtime to lift the Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Senators on Saturday.
“It has been a little bit of a grind lately,” said Pastrnak, who snapped a four-game point drought. Still, 17 of Pastrnak’s team-leading 25 goals have come in the past 21 games.
“Every player wants to score in overtime. I think he needed that, to be honest with you,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He was getting frustrated with his opportunities, or lack of. … For a goal scorer, you don’t want to go too long.”
Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo left Saturday’s morning skate because he required stitches after being cut by goaltender Linus Ullmark’s skate during a penalty kill drill. Carlo was able to play in the game and scored a go-ahead goal in the second period.
“I just fell on the ice right in front of the net there. As I was going down, I cut my forearm a little bit,” Carlo said. “Luckily, it was a really nice, clean cut in the right spot. It didn’t reach all the way to the muscle, and that was a good thing.”
Jake DeBrusk opened the scoring off a feed from Jack Studnicka, snapping an eight-game goal drought. DeBrusk hadn’t scored since Jan. 26 in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Avalanche in Denver.
Jeremy Swayman is 2-0-1 in his past three starts in the net. He made 29 saves to earn his second straight win over the Senators on Saturday.
Colorado recorded its 14th win in 16 games (14-1-1) and seventh in as many road contests with a 5-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon.
Nathan MacKinnon, J.T. Compher and Nazem Kadri each scored a goal in the first period Saturday.
Boston College product Alex Newhook scored his fourth game-winning goal of the season at the 8:37 mark. Mikko Rantanen notched an assist on that goal before sealing the win with an empty-net goal.
“We need to get not just steady defensive play from all four lines, but we need the offensive output as well,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “You can’t rely on one line or two lines to get that done, even though those guys in the top six have been doing it on a regular basis.”
Former Calder Trophy winner Cale Makar matched his career-high point total of 50 after setting up MacKinnon’s goal. Makar leads NHL defensemen in goals (18) entering play on Sunday.
Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves to improve to 16-0-1 in his past 17 decisions for Colorado.
–Field Level Media
