Bruins 4, Kings 1

 

Just like Friday night, the Bruins' opponent scored first, and then Boston responded with four unanswered goals. See a pattern here? Don't poke the bear . . . 

The L.A. Kings scored a goal in the first period. David Pastrnak wasn't having any part of that and responded with an unassisted goal in the second period, his fourth of the season, to tie up the game. 

In the third period, Marat Khusnutdinov scored a goal, assisted by Matthew Poitras and Morgan Geekie, to give the Bruins the lead. Elias Lindholm later hit an empty-netter, assisted by Khusnutdinov and Charlie McAvoy (BU, 2016), followed by another open-net goal by JJ Peterka, assisted by Pastrnak and Fraser Minten. It was Pasta's eighth assist of the season. 

Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves in the game (.962). He has 184 saves n the season after seven games, third best in the NHL.

It was the mighty Boston Bruins fifth consecutive win and they improve to 7-2-0 on the season, giving them a two-point lead for first place in the Atlantic Division ahead of Ottawa, Florida, and Tampa Bay. They're second overall in the Eastern Conference to the Carolina Hurricane's 15 points (7-1-1). 

The road trip concludes Tuesday night in Dallas against goalie Jake Oettinger (BU, 2019) and the Stars.  Oettinger has only 120 saves so far this season - he's no Swayman - but his save percentage (.952) is sixth best in the NHL (Swayman's is .934). However, Boston's shooting percentage, 12.9, fifth best in the league, should make up the difference in the goalies' save percentages, as Dallas has only a 9.0 shooting percentage, third from worse in the NHL.