Bruins defeat Canucks, extend home winning streak to nine games

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins extended their home winning streak to nine games with a 5-2 victory against the Vancouver Canucks at TD Garden on Sunday.

The streak is the longest to begin a season in Bruins history.
"It says we can win games in a lot of different fashions," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "It says we're deep, and it says we have great leadership. I can't compliment our players and the commitment to the team by their attitudes enough."
Connor Clifton had a goal and an assist, and Hampus Lindholm had three assists for Boston (14-2-0), which has won four straight, including 3-1 against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves.
"We're a really good hockey club," Lindholm said. "[We've] got good pieces here, but it's going to be a long year. Like I said, I'm [prouder] of the group for that process there from Buffalo. Like this learning, adapting, that's how this season's going to be. It's going to be a lot of hurdles, and we just have to keep going [in] that direction."

J.T. Miller scored, and Thatcher Demko made 27 saves for Vancouver (4-9-3). Quinn Hughes had an assist to extend his personal point streak to 10 games (13 assists).
"I didn't think we played too bad, honest to goodness," Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I know that it's a 4-2 game basically, but we worked our butts off, especially in the third period where we never quit, which is a really good sign, but it's not good enough."
Clifton gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 7:17 of the first. Taylor Hall cycled around the net from the slot before drifting the puck to Clifton in the right face-off circle for his second goal in three games.
Miller tied it 1-1 at 9:05 on the power play, taking a stretch pass at the blue line from Hughes for a breakaway.
Patrice Bergeron put the Bruins ahead 2-1 at 17:29, redirecting David Pastrnak's pass from the slot on the power play.
"Everyone's contributing and playing for the team," Bergeron said. "I think that's the biggest thing we know. As I said, it's chipping in and playing for each other, and it goes a long way when you're able to accomplish that as a team."

Boston and Vancouver each went 2-for-6 on the power play.
"You can't take that many penalties against them," Canucks defenseman Kyle Burroughs said. "You know what they can do offensively on the power play given the chance. They have good players over there, and time and time again they've proven that's what they're good at. It's not good enough for us to be that undisciplined."
Pavel Zacha made it 3-1 at 11:19 of the second, completing an odd-man rush with Lindholm during 4-on-4 play. Brad Marchand pushed it to 4-1 on the power play at 17:23 when he scored on a cross-ice pass from Pastrnak.
Sheldon Dries cut it to 4-2 at 4:34 of the third on a shot from a tight angle that bounced off Ullmark's stick on a power play.
"It's always great when you score on the power play, but we need to find a way to keep it out of the back of the net on the penalty kill," Dries said. "We'll talk about it, we'll work on it, and hopefully we're better next time."

Tomas Nosek scored a short-handed empty-net goal at 18:02 for the 5-2 final. It was Nosek's first goal since Jan. 2 (65 games).
"I know it's not my main job to score goals, but you want to produce, too," Nosek said. "It was sometimes frustrating, but I've always said before I just try to keep my head in the game and focusing on my game. And now it's over, and I'm glad it's over."
NOTES: Canucks forward Vasily Podkolzin (undisclosed) left in the first period following a fight with Boston forward A.J. Greer. Boudreau did not have an update postgame. … Boston's season-opening home winning streak passes its previous record of 8-0-0 set in 1984-84.