Charlie Coyle scored a first period goal that proved to be the game winner, and Tuuka Rask made 25 saves on Tuesday night as the Boston Bruins blanked the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 at TD Garden in Boston.
Coyle scored his 10th of the season at 14:24 of the first and that is all Boston needed. Coyle scooped up a rebound of a Charlie McAvoy right point shot, and then went left to right backhand to forehand tucking it past Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom. Brad Marchand doubled the lead in the second at 15:35. McAvoy came across the Canucks blue line and found Patrice Bergeron in the right circle. Bergeron swept a pass in the crease to a wide open Marchand who tapped it in to make it 2-0. David Krejci scored at 14:09 of the third, taking a pass from the right wing boards from Sean Kuraly into the crease that he fanned on the first time but recollected it again and shot it past Markstrom. Karson Kuhlman scores his first of the season at 18:10 on the powerplay to finish the scoring. Kuhlman deflected a Coyle shot that was taken from the right faceoff circle that snuck over the goal line off Vancouver defenseman Troy Stecher. Boston improves to 32-10-12, and have won four straight outscoring their last three opponents a combined 12-2 since the return from the All-Star break.
Coyle had a goal and an assist, and McAvoy had two assists on the night in the Bruins win. Markstrom made 38 saves in the loss for the Canucks, who fall to 30-19-5. Boston was 1-6 on the powerplay, while Vancouver went 0-3. The Bruins who own the second best record in the NHL one point behind Washington, play in Chicago against the Blackhawks at 8 p.m. Wednesday night.
