Bruins get past Golden Knights on Krejci goal in third

BOSTON -- David Krejci scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period for the Boston Bruins in a 3-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at TD Garden on Tuesday.

Krejci, who missed the previous two games with an upper-body injury, put Boston ahead at 12:18 when he followed up on his redirection of Brandon Carlo's shot from the right point after goalie Marc-Andre Fleury kicked it with his left pad.
"Obviously, we wanted to get the win before the All-Star] break," said Krejci, who had an assist. "We can enjoy the break a little bit more now."
***[WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Bruins highlights]*
Jake DeBrusk scored for the Bruins at 4:26 of the third to tie the game 2-2, and Jaroslav Halak made 27 saves for Boston (29-10-12), which won for the second time in its past five games (2-2-1).
Fleury made 34 saves for Vegas (25-20-7), which has lost six of seven games (1-5-1) going into the break and is 1-1-1 since Peter DeBoer replaced Gerard Gallant as coach Jan. 15.
"Disappointing going into the third with the lead and not getting points, but we didn't help ourselves with the penalties early in the game," DeBoer said. "Despite the fact we killed them off (5-for-5 on the penalty kill), it takes a toll on you."
Mark Stone scored at 1:24 of the first period to give Vegas a 1-0 lead with a backhand shot from the slot that snuck past Halak on the short side.

Jeremy Lauzon tied it 1-1 at 11:40 with a slap shot from the right point after Krejci chipped the puck along the boards to him.
"Did it in the right way, didn't overthink it," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Just got it, got off the wall, make sure you pound it hard so it gets by the first layer. If it gets blocked closer to the net, at least it's not going to be a quick transition. We've been trying to instill that attitude in some of our other guys."
Nicolas Hague scored on the power play for the Golden Knights with a one-timer from the top of the right face-off circle off a Nate Schmidt pass to make it 2-1 at 10:59 of the second period. It was his first NHL goal.
"It's definitely a dream come true for me," said Hague, a rookie defenseman who's played 38 games for Vegas. "I felt like it took forever, but we're there. I'm definitely happy with that, but really it sucks just the way the game ended."
Halak got his second assist of the season when he passed to the Vegas blue line to Charlie Coyle, who set up DeBrusk for the tying goal.
"It was like the first drill of, I think, a couple practices ago, we were doing where we did set breakouts and then also goalie handles," DeBrusk said. "… He made the play to get it up to [Coyle]. ... I guess it worked. Practice like you play."

They said it

"There was some good, but when you look at the overall, not good enough to come into a building like this to win. Against a team like that, you have to do everything right. That's move your feet, stay out of the box, play a clean game." -- Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer
"Enjoy yourself and get away wherever you're going, mentally cleanse. But understand that we get back, we get at it pretty quick. Be a professional. By that, you do have to look after yourself in some degree in terms of your conditioning. But again, it's more about, enjoy it, but be ready to get ramped up in a hurry." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on his message to the players going into the All-Star break

Need to know

Golden Knights forward Tomas Nosek played his 200th NHL game. ... Fleury remains tied with New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for fifth in goalie wins in NHL history (458). ... Vegas assigned Hague and forward
Nicolas Roy
to Chicago of the American Hockey League after the game. ... The Bruins have won five games in a row against the Golden Knights. ... Boston has won three straight at home.

What's next

Golden Knights: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 31 (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Bruins: At the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 31 (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN3, NESN, NHL.TV)