LOS ANGELES, CAThe Bruins didnt put their best foot forward in the San Jose loss that started their California trip, but they put together a very solid hockey game the next time around.
The Bruins started a little slowly against the Kings, but they finished with a rock-solid, gritty 4-2 victory over Los Angeles at the Staples Center that featured heavy hitting, opportunistic goal-scoring and a heavy dose of Tim Thomas highlight stops between the pipes.
That sounds an awful lot like the tired and true winning blueprint the Bruins used for the Stanley Cup last season, doesnt it?
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It was a good thing the Bs rediscovered the winning formula as the Ottawa Senators also wound up victorious with a decisive victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Bruins started off the scoring on the penalty kill when Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron trapped Drew Doughty in his own end, and Marchand set things up with speed and tenacity before Bergeron snapped home the rebound chance for his 20th goal of the season. Doughty atoned for his error by finding Colin Fraser wide open cutting to the net to tie things up in the second period, but it all Bruins in the final period.
Bs skaters like Dennis Seidenberg and Milan Lucic stepped up the physicality to match a willing Los Angeles bunch, and Lucic was rewarded with a five-hole shot that somehow slipped through Jonathan Quicks pads. The Bs third followed with yet another goal as Chris Kellywho dropped the gloves in a rare fight during the third periodredirected a Benoit Pouliot pass for the insurance strike.
The Kings close it to a one-goal game, but a Brad Marchand empty-netter closed out the scoring for the Bruins.