BOSTON — Nothing is automatic in the National Hockey League, but a Bruins win on Garden ice against a team the caliber of the Vancouver Canucks is starting to feel that way.
The B’s improved to 9-0 on Causeway Street on Sunday night with a 5-2 beating of the 4-9-3 Canucks. The B’s opened up a 4-1 lead at the end of the second period and went on auto-pilot the rest of the way for a victory that was a little tighter than it needed to be.
The B’s had five different goal scorers, while Hampus Lindholm notched three assists to lead the B’s. Topping it all off was Tomas Nosek, who had dropped the gloves for the first time in his career earlier in the game, breaking his 65-game goal-less streak that dated back to Jan. 2 when he salted the game away with an empty netter.
Linus Ullmark made 28 saves, a few of the Grade A variety, for the win.
In a thoroughly entertaining first period, the B’s took a 2-1 lead while dropping the gloves a couple of times.
The B’s took the lead at 7:17 on Connor Clifton’s second goal of the season. Taylor Hall took a fed from Lindholm in the high slot and appeared to pass up on several good shots of his own as he did a round-the-world tour of the offensive zone. Finally he gave Clifton a short pass just outside the right circle and Clifton ripped a one-timer pass Thatcher Demko.
The B’s looking like they had their legs going, and Canucks’ defenseman Kyle Burroughs tried his best to slow them down.
With David Pastrnak trying to attack the offensive zone without much help with him, Burroughs leveled the B’s superstar with a good hit. But the fact that it was clean didn’t stop Nosek – who saw Nick Foligno stand up for him last week when he absorbed a less than clean hit – from going after Burroughs and engaging in his first career fight, eventually wrestling Burroughs to the ice.
Nosek, however, was tagged with the instigator, along with the fighting major and misconduct. On the penalty kill, Brandon Carlo let J.T. Miller get behind him and Miller made a nice move to his forehand to beat Ullmark and tie the game at 9:05.
A.J. Greer, inserted back into the lineup, arrived in an ornery mood. He landed a good check on Vasily Podkolzin, which the Canuck did not like and he gave Greer a two-hander for it. The two then went at, with both landing good blows until Greer ended it with a solid right that cut and floored Podkolzin.
The B’s, which held a 17-8 shot advantage in the first, took the lead again after old friend Jack Studnicka was forced to haul down Pastrnak in the slot. It was the second penalty Pastrnak drew in the period and, this time, the B’s made the Canucks pay. Patrice Bergeron, who scored two goals on Saturday in Buffalo, made a nice redirect of a Pastrnak pass past Demko at 17:29, the captain’s eighth of the season.
As has so often been the case, the B’s started allowing some chances in the second period, and Ullmark had to come up a big stop, doing the splits to made a terrific skate save up against the post on Ilya Mikheyev.
That was all the B’s needed to regain their equilibrium and stretch their lead to 3-1 at 11:19. In a 4-on-4 situation, Clifton made a terrific breakout pass to Lindholm to start a 3-on-2. Lindholm moved it up to Pavel Zacha who, once he gained the zone, played catch with Lindholm before burying a one-timer off the return pass from Lindholm.
Then the B’s put the hammer down after Tyler Myers shot it into the crowd, taking his third minor of the night. On the advantage, Brad Marchand took a feed from Pastrnak and beat Demko to the glove side at 17:23, his fifth goal of the season, all of which have come on the power play.
The Canucks did get one back on the power play early in the third period when Sheldon Dries bad angle shot that went off Ullmark’s stick and in at 4:34. But they never got closer than that.
