(Photo Credits: Vegas Daily Betting)
By: Liz Rizzo | Follow me on Twitter @pastagrl88
Tonight at the TD Garden, knuckles were chucked as the Boston Bruins looked more than ready to throw their weight around as they defeated the Dallas Stars in their final meeting of the regular season.
GAME RECAP
Despite a lot of action throughout the first period, shots on goal were relatively low from both teams. Dallas came out and missed a couple of opportunities to score on Boston’s goaltender Jaroslav Halak. With a little over five minutes left in the first, the Bruins would draw their first penalty of the night. Despite a good amount of zone time down the Stars’ end, Boston was unable to capitalize on the man advantage.
Dallas would make a final push towards the end of the period and drew a hooking a penalty with under three minutes left. With 2:22 left, the Stars would strike first as John Klingberg sent a deflected shot in past Halak. Boston had one final chance to even the score as they drew a slashing penalty. Charlie Coyle would tip one in off an initial shot by Torey Krug.
SCORE AT THE END OF THE FIRST PERIOD: BOS-1, DAL-1
SHOTS ON GOAL: BOS-10, DAL-9
The Bruins had a hard time getting the puck out of their zone as Halak was forced to make numerous saves during tense play. Both teams made hard pushes towards the net with near goals hitting the post. David Krejci would drop gloves against Joe Pavelski. Sean Kuraly would have a missed opportunity with a wide shot to the net.
As the Bruins swarmed around Dallas’ net, Charlie McAvoy (in a second attempt) would set up a pass to Brad Marchand. The 31-year-old left-winger would notch his 26th goal of the season and extended his point streak to eight games. With momentum shifting to the home team, Boston would once again push towards the net. Newcomer Nick Ritchie scored his very first goal as a Bruin, wristing one in past Ben Bishop. In the final seconds of the period, Chris Wagner would be assessed a roughing call that saw Dallas go on the power-play.
SCORE AT THE END OF THE SECOND PERIOD: BOS-3, DAL-1
SHOTS ON GOAL: BOS-12, DAL-10
Dallas would open up the third and final period with under a minute left to the power-play but did not score (no shots on goal). With an unlucky deflection after initial stops by Halak, the Stars’ Denis Gurianov would score his 19th of the season. But as luck would have it David Pastrnak scored after moving the puck past the Stars defense only to find Ritchie (who quickly passed back to the 23-year-old winger). Pastrnak still leads the entire league with 46 goals. Chris Wagner would not return to the game due to an upper-body injury.
Down two goals, Dallas would push back as they desperately tried to even the score, but Boston would be there to limit their chances. With a little over two minutes left and a missed scoring opportunity on the Stars’ empty net, Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen would score as they continued to push until the last second. With an anxiety-induced minute left, the Bruins were able to stave off a potential Dallas comeback.
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