Marat Khusnutdinov’s third-period goal broke the game open, and the Boston Bruins finished off a clean sweep through the Golden State with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Boston improved to 7-2-0 and stretched its winning streak to five, using a late surge to turn a tight game into a comfortable finish. The Bruins scored three times in the third period to seal their third straight win on the trip.
The night started with a jolt for Boston. Just 31 seconds into the opening period, Los Angeles struck first when Jeremy Swayman turned away the initial chance, only for Alex Laferriere’s deflection of Brandt Clarke’s shot from the right side of the blue line to stay alive. Adrian Kempe jumped on the loose puck, and Laferriere got a second deflection in quick succession to put the Kings in front 1-0.
Los Angeles carried the edge early, controlling much of the first period and outshooting Boston 12-6 over the opening 20 minutes. The Kings never added to the lead, though, leaving the Bruins within striking distance at the first intermission.
Boston found the equalizer early in the second period. After Joel Armia missed a pass back toward Erik Gustafsson at the blue line, the puck wound up loose in the neutral zone. David Pastrnak beat Gustafsson to it, moved in along the right side, and snapped a shot past Anton Forsberg from just above the faceoff dot to tie it 1-1.
It was Pastrnak’s fourth goal of the season and his second in two nights, coming right after he moved into fourth place on the Bruins’ franchise goal-scoring list with his goal Friday night in Anaheim.
The second period followed a familiar script. Boston outshot Los Angeles 12-7, matching the Kings’ earlier edge from the first. Neither team could cash in on the power play, and the clubs combined to go 0-for-7 with the man advantage.
The game stayed locked at 1-1 deep into the third before Boston finally broke through. With a little more than six minutes left, Jonathan Aspirot started the breakout from behind Swayman’s net and found Morgan Geekie near the blue line.
Geekie moved it to Matthew Poitras in the neutral zone, Poitras sent it right back, and Geekie fired toward the crease. Forsberg stopped the first shot but couldn’t control the rebound, and Khusnutdinov was there to bury it for his second goal of the season.
Los Angeles still had one last opening after Will Borgen and Joel Armia picked up matching minors, creating a four-on-four. Kings coach Peter Laviolette then pulled his goalie to give Los Angeles a five-on-four look, but that push lasted only 53 seconds before Elias Lindholm scored into the empty net. JJ Peterka added another empty-net goal with 18 seconds remaining to close out the 4-1 final.
Boston heads to Dallas next to face the Stars on Tuesday night. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET on NESN.
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