The Bruins are streaking again. And it’s a good thing.<\/b>
\nGiven the streaky nature of these Bruins, you might be forgiven if you didn\u2019t want to fully invest in this team.
But if the B\u2019s can continue to get goaltending like they\u2019ve gotten the last couple of games, they might be worth a watch.
After surviving a six-game losing streak last month, the pendulum is now swinging the other direction. And on Tuesday night, they cooled off one of the hottest teams in the league, shutting out the Detroit Red Wings, 3-0, and riding a dominant third period to the win. Jeremy Swayman (24 saves) notched the B\u2019s second straight clean sheet after Joonas Korpisalo blanked the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
The B\u2019s have now won four straight and six of their last seven to put themselves back in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
The B\u2019s went into the third clinging to a 1-0 lead, but outshot the Wings 16-2 in the third and pulled away with two more goals. The B\u2019s now have a chance to sweep their five-game homestand with a win over Seattle on Thursday.
The first period was scoreless but entertaining. The Atlantic Division-leading Wings, who\u2019d won four straight and were 7-2-1 in their previous 10, had played on Monday, beating the Hurricanes in overtime. And the B\u2019s jumped on them early, controlling play in the early stages of the first period.
Pavel Zacha had a pair of Grade A chances, one a clean one-timer from low in right circle that Cam Talbot stopped and another time when he walked down the slot but his backhander would not go.
Detroit eventually got its legs under them and pushed back. The Wings are an impressive team when they\u2019re operating in the offensive zone. It\u2019s especially true when they\u2019re on the power play, and they got one when Elias Lindholm was called for a neutral zone tripping.
Swayman came up with a couple of huge saves. The first one came on Andrew Copp at the side of the net and then Patrick Kane sent J.T. Compher in alone, but Swayman snapped his offering out of the air with his glove.
The B\u2019s, who held a 13-10 shot advantage in the first, got their first power-play chance early in the second period. But while they had good zone time, they could not solve Talbot.
Morgan Geekie, who had welcomed a baby boy named Max on Saturday with his wife Emma, was playing with that energy that often comes to players who\u2019ve just had children born. But he had the same buzzard luck that he brought with him into the game on a nine-game goal-less skid. Midway through the period, he had a great chance when he broke in alone on the right wing, cut across the top of the crease and made a nifty move to pull if back to his forehand but Talbot made a great glove save.
But at 10:59 of the second, the B\u2019s finally broke the ice. Zacha came out of the corner with the puck and wheeled into the high slot before the puck was knocked off his stick. But Mason Lohrei made a heady play to keep the play alive and sweep it back to Zacha. The all-purpose forward then beat Talbot with a high wrist shot from the inside of the right circle to make it 1-0 with his 14th of the year.
They took that slim lead into the third period.
The B\u2019s doubled it at 3:49 of the third. Coach Marco Sturm flipped centers Lindholm and Fraser Minten, putting the rookie up with David Pastrnak and it paid off.
Circling the top of the zone, Pastrnak dropped it for Charlie McAvoy near the blue line and the defenseman took a shot from the high slot that was stopped. He followed up, grabbed his own rebound and dished to Minten for his 11th of the year.
With Talbot pulled for the extra skater with 4:07 left, the B\u2019s won the faceoff and Mark Kastelic chased down the lob-out, sweeping his seventh goal of the year into the empty net.<\/p>\n