The Boston Bruins continued their solid play with a shutout win in a Stanley Cup Finals rematch with the St. Louis Blues in Boston, while the Boston Celtics overcame a slow start to win for the second time in three games to start the season in New York over the Knicks.
In Boston at TD Garden, Tuuka Rask stopped all 26 shots he faced and David Pastrnak scored for the fifth straight game as the Bruins beat the Blues 3-0.
Boston (7-1-2) would get all the scoring they needed at 14:59 of the first period. Torey Krug shuffled a pass from the midpoint to Pastrnak at the top of the left faceoff circle. Pastrnak one timed the pass into the net for his 11th goal of the season. The hosts doubled the lead shorthanded at 9:31 of the second. Matt Grzelcyk skated down the slot and found Anders Bjork in the right faceoff circle. The one timer by Bjork was his first goal of the season. The rest of the work was done by Rask shutting the door on the Blues with several key Grade A saves. Brandon Carlo scored shorthanded into the empty net at 19:11 of the third period to finish off the scoring.
Along with Krug and Grzelcyk, Danton Heinen and Brad Marchand also added assists for Boston. Jordan Binnington made 21 saves in the loss for St. Louis (5-3-3). Both teams went 0-4 on the powerplay. The Bruins also extend their points streak to six games (4-0-2). Boston travels to New York to battle the Rangers at 7 p.m. Sunday.
At Madison Square Garden in New York, Kemba Walker had his best game so far with the Boston Celtics with 32 points as the guests outscored the New York Knicks by 28 points in the second half and rolled to a 118-95 win.
Boston (2-1) scored the first basket of the game but then New York scored 13 in a row and led by as many as 12 in the opening quarter. The Celtics took their first lead since the opening possession early in the second quarter and led in the second by as many as seven, before the Knicks regained control and led 51-46 at the half. Boston took the lead for good on a Carsen Edwards three pointer with 4:57 left in the third quarter at 72-70. An 11-0 run from late in the third to early in the fourth quarter built the lead to 14. The Celtics would lead by as many as 29 down the stretch winning their second in a row after a disappointing opening night loss to Philadelphia. 7 foot 6 rookie Tacko Fall saw some action late and had two dunks and three rebounds in limited action.
Walker shot 11-17 from the floor and 7-12 from three-point range and also added five rebounds, four assists, and two steals to his game high in points. Jaylen Brown had 19 points and four rebounds. Jayson Tatum had 15 points and nine rebounds, while Marcus Smart added 12 points and six rebounds and Edwards finished with 10. New York (0-3) was led by rookie RJ Barrett who had 26 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Mitchell Robinson had 17 points and six rebounds. Former Celtic Marcus Morris had 12 points and seven rebounds, while Julius Randle recorded a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Boston will host Milwaukee on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
