Bruins 6, Stars 3

 

What a game! Victor Arvidsson racked up a hat trick, and the Bruins scored four goals in the third period, including two Arvidsson empty netters. 

Arvidsson also scored a goal in the first, the second of the game following Khusnutdinov's opening score. Pastrnak, naturally, assisted with both goals. The Bruins' offense was quiet in the second, allowing the Stars to tie the game up at two each, but then the third opened with Elias Lindholm scoring on a power play 13 seconds into the final period. Henri Jokiharju scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Lindholm and Geekie, to make it 4-2, and then came Arvidsson's two empty netters. In between the two open nets, the Stars took advantage of a power play and a pulled goalie for a 6-4 edge to score a goal 

Joonas Korpisalo was in the net for the Bruins last night and made 13 saves on 16 attempts (.813).

The Bruins (43-24-8) are two points behind Montreal for third place and an automatic playoff bid. However, it's getting pretty comfy in the Wild Card race, as Boston now sits six points ahead of Columbus for the first berth and eight points up on contender Ottawa. With only seven more games to the regular season, it sure looks like the Bruins will get at least a Wild Card berth, if not a regular seed for finishing ahead on the Canadiens.

But it won't be easy. Thursday night, the Bruins play Florida (36-35-3), who are having an off year (for them) but have been the Bruins kryptonite team the past few seasons. There are also two games coming up against Tampa Bay (46-22-6), not to mention Philly (37-25-12), Carolina (47-21-6), Columbus (38-25-12) and New Jersey (38-34-2). No late-season cakewalk for our Bruins.