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Bruins Beat Coyotes 4-2 For Sixth Straight Win

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Tuukka Rask made 29 saves and extended his franchise-record home point streak to 18 games (12-0-6) to lead the Boston Bruins (34-10-12, 78 points) to their sixth straight win with a 4-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes (27-23-7, 61 points) Saturday at TD Garden.

Charlie Coyle scored two goals, Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists, David Pastrnak had two assists and Jake DeBrusk lit the lamp for the Bruins.

Phil Kessel and Jakob Chychrun scored for the Coyotes and Antti Raanta made 29 saves in the loss.

After a pre-game ceremony honoring Bruins captain Zdeno Chara for playing in his 1,00th game as a Bruin on January 13 and his 1,500th as an NHLer on November 5, the Bruins looked a bit discombobulated and gave up some solid chances early on. Thankfully Rask continued his stellar play and was ready to go.

Things got really interesting though with 21 ticks left in the opening frame as the Bruins were forced to not only kill a five-minute major for an illegal check to the head of Derek Stepan by defenseman Jeremy Lauzon but also play with five defensemen for the remainder of the game, thanks to a match-penalty and ejection of Lauzon. Thankfully the Bruins PK only allowed a Phil Kessel powerplay goal with 1:34 left on the Lauzon penalty at 3:26 of the second period. 

The Bruins also killed off two minor penalties to Charlie McAvoy (hooking) at 9:09 and Jeremy Lauzon (high-sticking) at 17:27, as well as 20 seconds of Lauzon’s major and match-penalty. The penalty kill did just that and the game headed into the first intermission with goose eggs on each side. 

Despite Kessel’s goal with 1:34 left on the Lauzon major, the Bruins seemed revitalized and right after the Coyotes killed off a Lawson Krouse roughing penalty at 4:46 of the middle frame, the Bruins tied the game on Coyle’s 11th of the season at 6:50. McAvoy and David Krejci got the helpers and the Bruins had grabbed the momentum from the Coyotes who seemed drained and depleted from only being able to knock home one goal on the Lauzon major. 

Just 5:16 later, with Coyotes forward Brad Richardson in the sin-bin for interference, the Bruins powerplay connected. Bergeron beat Raanta off a beautiful feed from Pastrnak at 12:06 and the Bruins had their first lead of the game. Torey Krug grabbed the secondary assist. 

The Bruins’ powerplay wasn’t done though as just 2:07 later, Coyotes defenseman Nicklas Hjarmalsson was whistled for hooking at 14:13. 23 ticks later, Jake DeBrusk buried home his 18th of the season on another beautiful feed from Pastrnak and another Bruins’ powerplay goal. Bergeron got the other helper on the tally. 

The Bruins carried a 3-1 lead into the third period but that two-goal cushion didn’t last long as Chychrun grabbed his 11th goal of the season 26 ticks into the final frame to cut the Bruins lead back to one goal. Clayton Keller and Vinnie Hinostroza grabbed the helpers. 

The Coyotes would pressure for the tie, but Coyle sealed the deal at 19:11 of the final frame with his second of the game with an empty-netter. Bergeron got the lone assist.

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