After an opening night loss on the road to the reigning Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals 7-0, the Boston Bruins have found a good offensive stride early in the season with four straight wins, and now head to Western Canada where they play three games in four nights beginning Wednesday.
Boston (4-1-0), got goals from David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Joakim Nordstrom, and Patrice Bergeron and a solid goalie performance from backup Jaroslav Halak who stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 4-1 win over the Oilers Thursday. Saturday the Bruins exploded in an 8-2 win over the winless Red Wings. Boston took a 4-0 lead after two periods, and added four more in the third to pick up the fourth staight win. Pastrnak had three goals, Jake Debrusk a pair of goals, while Sean Kuraly, Charlie McAvoy, and Anders Bjork all had a goal each. Bergeron added three assists, while Brandon Carlo, Marchand, and David Kreijci all had two assists a piece. Tuuka Rask earned his second victory in net with 32 saves on 34 shots.
After five games, Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak are all in the top 10 in the league in points. Bergeron (3rd) has five goals and six assists for 11 points, Marchand (8) has one goal and nine assists for 10, and Pastrnak (9) has seven goals and two assists for nine points.
Boston begins the three game in four night stretch Western Canada trip when they face Calgary at 9:30 pm Wednesday night. Thursday they are in Edmonton for a re-match with the Oilers at 9 pm, before facing Vancouver Saturday at 10 pm. The Bruins then head to Ottawa to face the Senators next Tuesday at 7:30 pm, before returning home next Thursday and Saturday to face Philadephia and rival Montreal.
