ST. LOUIS –– When the Boston Bruins’ lineup surfaced prior to Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues, there were questions.
For one, David Pastrnak? On the third line?
But there was a method to the mixing from Marco Sturm. The head coach got a combined four goals from his updated third and fourth lines in the Bruins’ 5-2 win over the Blues at Enterprise Center, extending the team’s win streak to three games.
Pastrnak returned from injury, playing for the first time since Nov. 26, and finished the night with two assists while skating with Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten, who had two goals. Mark Kastelic also scored twice; he was on the fourth line with Tanner Jeannot and Sean Kuraly, who had two assists.
“Obviously, having David back, it’s a good problem,” Sturm said. “But also, we had to think a little bit about that one, how we're going to put the lines together. We thought that lineup would give us the best chance to win a hockey game.”
The Bruins took off after Robert Thomas gave the Blues a 1-0 lead while on the power play in the opening frame.
Minten tied things 1-1 at 12:48 of the second. Pastrnak got the puck behind the net and swung it around to the crease, where Khusnutdinov tried to jam it in; Minten ultimately knocked the rebound past Blues goaltender Joel Hofer.
“Pretty cool to get the chance to play with those guys,” Minten said. “Definitely a bit of an adjustment, but we are all trying to play within the same structure here, so it makes it easy to have different linemates. Just know that those guys are going to make really good plays.”
Boston earned a 2-1 advantage less than two minutes later. Jeannot funneled the puck up to the point, where Victor Soderstrom blasted one towards the net. The shot deflected first off Kuraly and then Kastelic before going in at 14:34.
