Brad Marchand had a pair of goals and three assists and David Pastrnak had a pair of goals and a pair of assists to lead the Boston Bruins to a 6-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the season opener at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio Thursday night.
Alexander Wennberg and Cam Atkinson both had first period goals to give Columbus the early 2-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes.
Pastrnak scored 2:36 into the second period to cut the lead to 2-1, before Seth Jones gave the Blue Jackets back a two goal lead at 3-1 just over four minutes later. Boston (1-0-0) would then score the final five goals of the game.
Newcomer David Backes, acquired from St. Louis, scored his first two goals as a Bruin at 13:36 and 17:12 of the second to knot the score at 3-3 headed to the third period.
In the third, Marchand would score the game winner at 9:54 and would add another goal 5:31 later to make it 5-3, before Pastrnak scored his second of the night with 58 seconds left to finish off the scoring.
Tuuka Rask made 28 saves on 31 shots. The Bruins outshot the ‘Jackets 37-31 in the game.
Columbus (0-1-0) will host San Jose Saturday at 7 p.m., while Boston travels to battle the Maple Leafs in Toronto Saturday also at 7 p.m.
BOS 0 3 3- 6
CBS 2 1 0- 3
SOG- Boston 37 Columbus 31
Power plays- Boston 0-2 Columbus 1-3
