Bruins win seventh in row, top Golden Knights in six-round shootout

LAS VEGAS -- The Boston Bruins extended their season-long winning streak to seven games with a 3-2 shootout victory against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.

Jake DeBrusk scored in his fifth straight game and in the tiebreaker for Boston (36-17-8), which extended its point streak to 12 games (9-0-3). Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves.
"It feels good," DeBrusk said of the winning streak, which includes four straight on the road. "It's lots of teambuilding right now, and guys are feeling good about themselves. It's always nice to win."
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Boston's winning streak is its longest since March 2-22, 2014, when it won 12 in a row.
David Backes scored the winning goal in the bottom of the sixth round for Boston, which extended its lead to four points over the Toronto Maple Leafs for second place in the Atlantic Division.
"Truthfully, I was still in shock that [Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy] called my name with some of the guys who hadn't gone yet," Backes said. "So I thought there was, at least, maybe a handful before me. But I got the call, went out there. I'm a shooter by nature.
"[Bruins forward Brad Marchand] said, 'You got low glove all day if you come in from the six side.' I went in there and I thought the glove was a little high, I went low, and it worked out."

Reilly Smith had a goal and an assist, and Nate Schmidt scored for the Golden Knights (32-25-5), who lost for the ninth time in 12 games (3-8-1). Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves, losing his fourth consecutive start. Vegas is in third place in the Pacific Division, nine points behind the San Jose Sharks.
"It was a close game, start to finish," Fleury said. "They're a good team, obviously. I thought it was good pace. With how close the game was offensively and defensively, it felt a bit [like a playoff game]."

Boston took a 1-0 lead at 11:17 of the first period when DeBrusk spun away from Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore in the slot and scored blocker side.
"It's pure luck, to be honest with you," DeBrusk said. "I didn't really know what I was doing out there. I didn't try to [do a] 360, but I tried to get to my forehand at least. You don't have that much time to elevate the puck, and I just heard the bar, and the celly proceeded."

Smith tied it 1-1 at 18:24 off a rebound from Cody Eakin's shot from the point.
Marchand scored 1:09 into the third period to give Boston a 2-1 lead, but Schmidt answered 27 seconds later for a 2-2 tie at 1:36.
"When a team wins a lot of games in a row it's because everyone is pulling their own weight," Cassidy said. "As long as your leaders lead and your followers follow, good things happen."

They said it

"We're playing a gritty style. It's not the prettiest of games. The San Jose game [on Monday], lots of different things were going on. I think it just shows our resiliency, missing [forward David Pastrnak]. Certain guys are just trying to play different roles and we're just trying to do the best we can." -- Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk
"We got one point, we played a great game. I think that if we played the game over again, we'd win it. Are we disappointed we didn't get two points? Definitely, but I'm not going to fault our group for that effort. They did exactly what I wanted them to do." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant

Need to know

The Bruins acquired forward Charlie Coyle in a trade with the Minnesota Wild for forward Ryan Donato and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft on Wednesday. … Halak has won his past three starts while allowing three goals. … Marchand has 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists) in his past 16 games. … Krejci extended his point streak to five games (two goals, eight assists). … Smith scored for the first time in 13 games. … Vegas defenseman Nick Holden (undisclosed) had one shot on goal in 19:15 in his first game since Jan. 21. He played in place of Colin Miller, who was a healthy scratch for the first time with Vegas.

What's next

Bruins:At the St. Louis Blues on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-MW, NESN, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ATTSN-RM, TSN3, NHL.TV)