Bruins Bounce Back, Stay Undefeated on Home Ice

BOSTON - Jake DeBrusk, Patrice Bergeron, and Trent Frederic all scored as the Bruins bounced back with a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Monday night at TD Garden. Boston improved to 7-0-0 on home ice this season and 11-2-0 overall with the win.
"It was great to be back in Boston," said coach Jim Montgomery. "You can tell our players are really excited. I thought we started off the first period really well; we had a little bit of penalty trouble that derailed us. I think the second period, wasn't very good for us. I thought St. Louis came at us, and we didn't respond to their push. But we pushed back in the third, and I liked the way we took over the game in the third."

The Bruins' undefeated start on Causeway Street is just the second streak of seven-or-more home wins to begin the season in team history, to go along with an 8-0-0 start in 1983-84.
"I think good teams do that [play well at home]," said Frederic, who notched an insurance tally in the third period to put the Bruins ahead, 3-1, with 3:32 remaining. "It's fun playing at TD. I feel like we've always got a packed crowd. It's like a Saturday every night. It's easy for us."

Special Stuff

The Bruins' special teams carried the day as the power play converted on both of its opportunities, while the penalty kill went a perfect 3-for-3, all during an 8:19 stretch of the first period.
"We have a lot of confidence in our penalty kill," said Montgomery. "I think our special teams won the game. Our power play was 2 for 2, our penalty kill was 3 for 3…great work by both coaches [Joe Sacco on the PK] and [John Gruden on the PP]."
After killing off three consecutive Blues' power plays over the first half of the opening period, the Bruins cashed in on their first man advantage with 6:26 left in the first when DeBrusk buried David Pastrnak's backhand feed from the doorstep.
"I think it did [give us momentum]," DeBrusk said of the penalty kills. "Any time we get kills like that, especially in order - it seemed like we were in the box there for the first little bit - there's no rhythm or timing for multiple guys in the game, so it's one of those things you just try to do the job and kill the penalty. And to be able to get one on the power play right after was a good way to set the tone for our game.
"You always want to be a difference maker on special teams, and it was nice to kind of get some greasy ones there and also some of the plays we were making. It was nice and good timing for sure."
Boston cashed in on the power play, once again, midway through the third period as Bergeron tallied the winner from his patented bumper position with a quick snapshot off a nifty saucer feed from Brad Marchand with 7:15 remaining.
"We liked our power play in the last couple of games. We generated a lot of chances, we haven't really had the finish, and tonight we got the finish," said Montgomery. "The desperation and the work to get the second- and third-effort chances in the offensive zone, I think, really paid off on both of those goals."

Stepping Up

With Derek Forbort out of the lineup with a broken finger suffered last week in Pittsburgh, Montgomery has had to shift around his back line a bit. One of the moves has been bumping Connor Clifton up to play alongside Hampus Lindholm on the Bruins' top pairing for the last three games. The 27-year-old played 25:34 - just two seconds behind Lindholm for the game-high - and landed two shots on goal, two hits, to go along with two blocked shots against St. Louis.
"He's always very involved," said Montgomery. "He's just a hockey player. He's involved physically, he's around the puck, he comes up with loose pucks. He's one of those guys that build momentum for us."
Clifton, who was thriving with Forbort as the B's second pairing prior to his partner's injury, is embracing the chance for a larger role.
"I think it's great. I get to play with a great player. It's been really good. We've been working together. All starts in practice. We've been getting some reps and it's been good so far," said Clifton. "Obviously we're a man down - we're still a man down. We're playing great team offense, defense. But obviously there's an opportunity to play some more minutes…so that's been good."

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