Halak, Fourth Line Pace B's in Anaheim

ANAHEIM, Calif. - After a torrid start to his Bruins career, Jaroslav Halak hit a bit of a speed bump. A five-game losing streak through January left him searching for a win for over a month.
That skid, however, appears to be a distant memory. Halak was immense on Friday night in his second consecutive win, making 30 saves for his fourth shutout of the season to pace the Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in the opener of the team's five-game road trip.

"He's now two in a row," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "He had a real hot streak at the start, cooled off a little. A product of both those streaks is usually the team in front of you. You play well, you keep the net clear, the goalie's gonna look good.
"Certainly they get in the zone and steal some games, but same when he gets cold. We weren't boxing out as well as we could be. I think tonight we did a better job with that. Some of the issues he had recently, pucks were going through him from distance where he couldn't pick it up with too much traffic.
"I think we did a better job with that, allowing him to see it. And he worked hard to see them as well."
Halak made a number of standout saves, including a nifty glove denial of Corey Perry and a lunging poke-away stop of Max Jones in the first period. The veteran netminder also shut down Brandon Montour's power-play attempt late in the third, sliding across the blue paint to preserve his shutout.
"Jaro played unbelievable," said Noel Acciari, whose first-period goal was all the Bruins needed. "On our penalty kill, there were a lot of chances that easily could have went in. He played big and it was great to see him get rewarded like that."

Halak credited his teammates for their play in front of him, particularly on the penalty kill, which went 3-for-3.
"It's a team effort all the time," said Halak, who made 35 saves in a 2-1 victory over Colorado last Sunday. "Any time you win a game or I get a shutout it has to be everyone on the same page…I felt pretty good out there. Obviously a couple times I got some help from my D, they cleared the puck or made the save for me.
"But I think it was a good effort. We played for 60 minutes. Obviously we got into a little bit of penalty trouble in the second period, but I think our penalty killing was good and our guys did a really good job out there."
The 33-year-old Slovakia native improved to 15-9-4 in his first season with the Bruins, to go along with a .923 save percentage (seventh in the league) and 2.35 goals against average (fourth). His four shutouts rank third in the NHL.
"Tonight I felt pretty good from the get-go," said Halak. "I'm just glad for the two points. Obviously it makes it more special with the shutout."

Happy Fourth

Halak was not the only one to produce a standout performance. Boston's fourth line of Acciari (goal), Chris Wagner (goal), and Sean Kuraly (two assists) once again provided a dependable all-around effort for Cassidy, combining for four points, while helping to shutdown the Ducks' top line of Rickard Rakell, Ryan Getzlaf, and Corey Perry (four combined shots).
"They wanted that matchup, obviously, so we'll gladly take it," said Cassidy. "They're a heavy line…big, big bodies - so against our big bodies, I think that's a good matchup for us. We'll certainly use [Patrice Bergeron's line] against them at times if need be, but for the most part that's their assignment a lot of nights, especially if it's a bigger line. I thought they were very good again."

The trio got Boston going early in the first period when Acciari notched his second of the season to put the Bruins ahead, 1-0, at 5:31. The sequence began with pressure from Acciari and Wagner low in the Ducks' zone forcing a turnover up the boards to Torey Krug at the right point.
Krug then found Kuraly just inside the blue line, where the winger set up Brandon Carlo for a one-timer. Acciari was planted at the top of the crease and tipped home Carlo's blast to open the scoring.
"It was a great shot. Just in the right place at the right time," said Acciari. "We thrive on getting pucks back and getting to the net, so it's nice to get rewarded as a line. We always want to contribute, but it doesn't always happen. But we like to make sure we're strong defensively and kind of get some energy going."
Wagner sealed the deal with an empty-netter from the neutral zone with 1:31 remaining. It was a satisfying goal for the Walpole native, who was playing in Anaheim as a visitor for the first time, after spending the majority of his first six professional seasons with the Ducks organization.
"They know how I play," said Wagner, whose goal was his seventh, tying a career high set last season. "They started scrums and stuff…they're a good team, it's a lot of core guys that I'm friends with. But, yes, it makes it even better to win tonight."
"It's his homecoming a little bit," added Cassidy. "Puck happened to find him, so good for him. I think it's a little bit of karma. Works hard and we were hoping it would find him and it did, so it's a good story."

Make It Two

Jake DeBrusk potted the Bruins' second goal of the night, giving the winger goals in two straight games for the first time since late November. After a stretch of 13 straight contests without a goal, DeBrusk hopes his tallies in back-to-back games can help him build some momentum.
"It's been a while since I've had a little bit of a streak," said DeBrusk. "Two games isn't really much, but in saying that, it's nice to help the team out - on the road against Anaheim and to be part of the team winning is nice. It helps the mindset a little bit and the biggest thing for me is seeing the first one go in."
DeBrusk was the recipient of a vintage David Krejci helper on a power play early in the second period. Krejci collected an initial feed from Krug across the slot, before dangling around Ducks goalie Kevin Boyle - who had lunged out of the crease to try to poke the puck away - and sliding a pass through the blue paint to DeBrusk.
The 22-year-old tapped the puck into an open net to match his career high of 16 goals, set last season during his rookie campaign.
"Obviously an amazing play by Krech and I won't miss many of those, that's for sure," said DeBrusk. "It was pretty much laying in the crease and I had a front-row view of it and it was nice to be in the right place at the right time and help the team."

Starting Fast

The Bruins kicked off their five-game Western Conference road trip on the right foot, winning their fourth straight and sixth in their last seven. Boston also extended its points streak to nine games (6-0-3).
"I think as a team we're happy with where we are, but each game we want to improve and get better in a different part of it," said Acciari. "We've been talking a lot about being strong defensively and the offense will come. Right now that's happening for us."