The Boston Bruins finished their California swing in style.
After spotting the Los Angeles Kings an early goal, Boston rattled off four unanswered scores and walked away with a 4-1 win Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, good for its fifth straight victory. David Pastrnak, Marat Khusnutdinov, Elias Lindholm and JJ Peterka all found the net, and the Bruins matched what they did the night before by scoring four unanswered goals.
Jeremy Swayman did his part behind them, stopping 25 of 26 shots for his sixth win of the season.
Boston had to work around a few lineup changes. Pavel Zacha missed the game with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day.
Sean Kuraly returned to the lineup, while Fraser Minten and Matt Poitras centered the first and second lines, respectively. Nikita Zadorov sat as a healthy scratch, and Jonathan Aspirot got into the lineup.
The Kings grabbed the first punch just 31 seconds in. Adrian Kempe fed Alex Laferriere near Swayman’s crease, and Laferriere buried the game’s first shot to give Los Angeles an immediate lead.
Boston spent much of the first period chasing. At the 10:30 mark, the Bruins were trailing 9-3 in shots, and the Kings carried a 12-6 edge into the first intermission.
Before the opening period ended, tempers flared. Mark Kastelic and Samuel Helenius dropped the gloves in a short fight, and Kastelic - in his second fight of the 2026-27 season - took the 6-foot-6 Kings forward to the ice.
The Bruins came out with more force in the second. Pastrnak tied it at 2:43 when he jumped on a puck that skipped over Erik Gustafsson’s stick, accelerated past him and beat Anton Forsberg blocker-side with a wrist shot.
That goal pushed Pastrnak’s point streak to four games, during which he’s collected four goals and four assists for eight points. He’s also now three goals shy of Patrice Bergeron for third place in franchise history.
Boston also got a power-play chance in the period after Khusnutdinov drew an interference call on Brandt Clarke. Khusnutdinov looked shaken up on the play, briefly left the ice, and later returned. He ended up playing only three shifts in the middle period.
Still, the Bruins settled in. They outshot Los Angeles 12-7 in the second, killed off their lone penalty, and headed to the third tied.
Marco Sturm shuffled the forward groups to start the final period, moving Peterka onto the top line with Minten and Pastrnak, while Morgan Geekie dropped beside Poitras and Khusnutdinov.
That second line delivered the go-ahead goal at 13:36. Geekie put a shot on Forsberg, who made the stop but couldn’t secure the puck. Poitras kept the play alive and nudged it across the crease to Khusnutdinov, who finished for his second goal of the season and a 2-1 Boston lead.
Late penalty trouble briefly opened the door for Los Angeles, with Will Borgen called for interference and Joel Armia penalized for embellishment. The Kings pulled Forsberg for an extra skater, but Lindholm ended it with an empty-net goal from the neutral zone with 1:58 remaining.
Boston added one more before the horn. Peterka scored into the empty net with 18 seconds left to seal it.
The Bruins will finish their four-game road trip in Dallas on Tuesday. They’ll fly to Texas after this game and have Sunday off.
In Other News...
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DiPietro, meanwhile, handled the heavier lift in net and made 25 saves in just his second start of the season, giving Boston steady play while the offense rallied around him. For a team trying to sort out its next layer of contributors, it was the kind of night that can matter beyond one result, especially with Brunet showing he can help in the same situations the Bruins will keep asking him to handle. [Read more 🡒]
Marco Sturm Sent Bruins Veterans A Clear Message During This Streak
Bostons five-game run rolled on with a 4-1 win over the Kings, but the larger takeaway for the Bruins may have come before the puck dropped. Marco Sturm used a lineup decision to send a pretty direct message to his veterans, reinforcing that effort and discipline still matter even when the team is stacking wins. The Bruins had to adjust without Pavel Zacha in the mix, yet they still found enough balance to keep the streak alive.
David Pastrnak helped drive the offense, Marat Khusnutdinov chipped in, and Boston continued to look like a team growing more comfortable in Sturms structure. Even with the recent success, the message from the bench was clear: no spot is guaranteed, and the standard is not changing just because the results have improved. [Read more 🡒]