B's Rebound With Complete Effort Against St. Louis

BOSTON - The Bruins were not used to the situation they faced on Thursday night.
For the first time in six weeks, they arrived at the rink having lost their previous game in regulation. It was not a feeling the Black & Gold were very fond of. Thus, they made sure they wouldn't have to show up on Saturday with that same sensation.

A game after their 18-game points streak came to a close, the Bruins received 32 saves from Tuukka Rask and a goal apiece from David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, and David Backes and grinded out a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden.
"We just got sick of losing," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy quipped after the win.

That much was clear from the early going as Boston came with pace in the first period and grabbed the contest's opening goal for the first time in nine games. The marker came on a funky David Krejci tally, which was challenged for goaltender interference but upheld after review.
"Mentally I think we were much sharper, better focus, right before we stepped out. We made simple plays, we kept putting pucks deep and established our forecheck," said Zdeno Chara. "We obviously don't plan to get scored on but there was a reason why we fell behind a few games [in a row]. I think we wanted to correct those issues and I think we did tonight."
Despite the strong start - and even better second period, during which the Bruins outshot St. Louis, 22-6 - Boston had a number of golden opportunities turned away by Blues backstop Jake Allen (43 saves). That stellar goaltending at the other end of the ice required a similar performance from Tuukka Rask. And that's exactly what he provided.
The 30-year-old netminder turned away 32 Blues shots, including a highlight-reel glove stop on Jaden Schwartz' backhand attempt just two minutes into the third with Boston up by a goal.
"Allen played a great game, a lot of good saves that kept them in it," said Rask. "You just know when it's a one-goal game at some point there's going to be a chance. You try to make that save and maybe today [it] came in the third period. And then after that we extended the lead and you just try to keep it tight at all times."

The victory extended Rask's personal points streak to 19 games, the fourth-longest streak in team history behind Gerry Cheevers (32 games in 1971-72), Pete Peeters (31 games in 1982-83), and Frank Brimsek (23 games in 1940-41). Rask is now 17-0-2 since a regulation loss to Edmonton on Nov. 26.
"A lot of it is team play, how your team plays in front of you," said Rask. "Lately [our] goalies, we haven't had to stand on our heads and play unbelievable games to keep us in it. Our team is playing great hockey offensively, defensively, and all around. I think it helps everybody.
"Everybody feels more confident and everybody is trying to pick each other up all the time and we're no different. We try to be there when the time comes and we have to make those saves and that's it."
With Rask standing tall between the pipes, the Bruins made sure to provide some insurance midway through the third. Vladimir Tarasenko's hooking penalty gave Boston the game's first power play, and they took advantage.
After taking a feed from Torey Krug, Ryan Spooner (two assists) shuffled a pass to David Pastrnak in the corner. Pastrnak then found Patrice Bergeron in the slot, where the pivot let go his patented one-timer from the right circle to extend the Bruins' lead to 2-0 at 9:05 of the third.
"I feel like you can call it a gray area or whatever, where it's in between the defenseman and the forward, and sometimes there's miscommunication in that position and I'm trying to find that," said Bergeron. "I know it's always a tough area to defend, so I'm trying to get open there. My teammates are doing a great job to find me there, so it's definitely good to get a lot of looks from that position."

St. Louis finally cracked Rask and pulled within a goal when Schwartz buried one backdoor with the Blues net empty with 1:32 remaining. But Boston buckled down and closed the door on the win when Backes - admittedly a bit more jazzed up against his former squad - punched home an empty-netter with 0.4 seconds on the clock.
"He played hard, he was motivated, very much he wanted to be a difference maker, so he got rewarded with the goal towards the end," said Chara. "He had a lot of shots on net, he was physical. He's that type of player that he wants to battle, he wants to go to the net and that's his game."
Backes was not the only one with a chip on his shoulder on Thursday night. After all, the Bruins had no interest in leaving the building without points for the second straight game.
"The guys really battled. It was probably our most complete game where we had to battle and win pucks all over the ice," said Backes. "Two points against a tough Central Division team that I know pretty well - hopefully the start of another streak where we put a few together.
"But one at a time. We'll enjoy these two points then get ready for [Toronto] whenever we play on Saturday."
NOTES: Kevan Miller left Thursday night's game with an upper-body injury, according to Cassidy. More will be known of his status on Friday…Spooner's two assists gave him 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists) over his last 13 games…Pastrnak extended his points streak to seven games (3-6-9) with the helper on Bergeron's goal.