Khudobin Shines Early As B's Cruise in New York

NEW YORK- It's not often that the lead story following a five-goal victory is the winning team's goaltending. But if it were not for the heroics of Anton Khudobin during Wednesday night's first period, the Bruins may have been in deep trouble.
After falling behind by a goal on Rick Nash's tally just five minutes into the game, Boston needed some time to find its bearings on the second night of a back-to-back.

Fortunately, Khudobin was there to save the day. The 31-year-old netminder made 10 of his 21 saves in the first period, including a wild sequence midway through the frame, during which Khudobin made three Grade-A saves within a five-second span to keep the Rangers off the board.
It was, perhaps, a game-saving series of stops that flipped momentum and served as the launching pad for Boston's six unanswered goals. In the end, the Bruins cruised by the Rangers, 6-1, for the team's fourth consecutive victory.
"For a back-to-back, you are always concerned about whether you have your legs," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "I thought we had our legs. And in the first period, our goaltender was terrific. We had some breakdowns in the slot, which is a little uncharacteristic of us. Give credit to the Rangers for getting there, but we got through it.
"We got a lead going into the second and once that happened, our group thought we would be in good shape after getting through the first period."

With the game tied, 1-1, near the 11-minute mark of the first, Khudobin began his stellar efforts. Following a point blank stop on Mika Zibanejad , Khudobin twirled around and stoned Nick Holden's one-timer attempt on the rebound. The Kazakhstan native's best stop came off of Holden's rebound, which kicked to Nash at the left post. But Khudobin was there once again to close the door and end the threat.
"That was a scramble," said Khudobin. "First one I tried to kick out, didn't happen, it went though my legs. Tried to find the puck, turned around, it was another shot, deflection, tried to kick out and I was like, 'Uh oh.'"
Ultimately, there was little to worry about as Boston's backup netminder improved to 11-3-4 on the season with a 2.28 goals against average and .925 save percentage.
"That's my job to save pucks, I'm happy to get wins," said Khudobin, who also assisted on Tim Schaller's filthy second-period tally. "I know sometimes playing the second of back-to-backs is not that easy, especially when you're in a situation where you're not playing as much as I play. But I'm happy the way it's going."

As he should be. Khudobin's work, coupled with the incredible three-month run of Tuukka Rask - who is unbeaten in regulation over his last 21 games (19-0-2) - has given Boston one of the league's top goaltending duos.
"They're both playing some great hockey, giving us a chance every time," said Patrice Bergeron, who netted two second-period goals. "It's not easy for Anton, playing the back end of a back-to-back, not playing yesterday, going to bed late, it's not an easy job.
"He's really stepping up every time. He's playing well. And Tuukks, we all know how he's been all year and especially lately. It's been great to have."

More notes and observations from Boston's 6-1 win over New York:

Bergeron nets two more: Bergeron potted two more goals to give him a team-leading 24 on the season. Both tallies, one of which was a shorty, came in the second period and helped Boston build a 5-1 advantage after 40 minutes.

Marchand returns: After serving his five-game suspension for elbowing, Brad Marchand was back in the lineup and picked up the assist on Bergeron's second goal, while posting a plus-2 and landing two shots on goal.
"Felt better after the first. Took a little time to get back into it. They were flying too, a little tougher but felt good," said Marchand. "A little bit [of rust] on some breakaways and missed opportunities; couple times I lost pucks that I normally wouldn't lose, but it will come back."
Schaller dangles: Schaller scored what he proclaimed the best goal of his life in the second, when he surged up the left wing and dangled through Tony DeAngelo, before sneaking the puck between the right post and Henrik Lundqvist, who was yanked from the game following the tally.
"That's No. 1, that goes straight to the top," said Schaller. "I was kind of reading off the D-man. I was probably going to take it wide and I saw him flinch a little bit so I knew I had space to come middle. Luckily, I made a nice play and it went in."

Getting into the act: Zdeno Chara picked up his fifth goal of the season, and the eventual game-winner, when he took a feed from Jake DeBrusk - who won a puck battle in the corner - and fired a wrister from the slot with 3:51 to go in the first.
Riley Nash tied the game at 1 just 2:54 after Rick Nash opened the scoring. It was the third-line center's eighth of the year.
Let the good times roll: Boston has now posted a 27-4-4 record since Nov. 16 and sits just a point behind Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division.
"We're trying to win every game that's on the schedule in front of us," said Cassidy. "If we catch them, great. If not, if they play great, that's the way it goes. We pay attention to it, but it's not our main focus. I think the guys just want to play from period to period."

Pastrnak extends streak: With his assist on Bergeron's first goal, David Pastrnak extended his points streak to 10 games (4-8-12). It is his second points streak of 10-plus games this season, following a 12-game stretch from Nov. 22-Dec. 18.
McQuaid drops 'em: Adam McQuaid twice dropped the gloves with New York forward Cody McLeod, once at the 2:42 mark of the first and another late in the third after McLeod's hit on Matt Grzelcyk (two assists).
"He's a warrior. A huge part of our team, he's such an intimidating factor out there the way he steps up and handles things like that," said Marchand. "It's great to have, gotta give him a lot of credit, he's a great teammate and we all love him."
Kuraly goes back-to-back: After not having scored since Nov. 24, Sean Kuraly has now potted goals in two straight games after his tally early in the third period.
"We're not relying on him to score, but you've got your goal scorers and the guys that have the ability to score goals and he's in the latter," said Cassidy. "Pitch in, help us, sometimes there's a little friendly competing between him and Noel [Acciari] and Schalls, who can get to double digits first…who doesn't like scoring, right?"

Czarnik grabs another: Austin Czarnik had a helper on Kuraly's third-period goal, giving him an assist each in the three games since he was recalled from Providence.