Here are Joe Haggerty's talking points from the Bruins' 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues.
GOLD STAR: It feels like a lot of the Bruins fourth line forwards have been getting the lion’s share of credit in games, so why not spread the love around to Chris Wagner? The hard-hitting Bruins winger ended up scoring the game-winning goal on a breakaway in the third period, threw five hits and won 3-of-5 face-offs in 14:17 of ice time while adapting to a new linemate with David Backes added to that group. The breakaway was a thing of beauty as Wagner was hit in stride by a Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson pass, twisted Alex Pietrangelo up defensively and then threw a double-move on Jake Allen before wrapping the puck around his body. It more than made up for the absolute struggle of missing a pair of empty net chances late in the third period with the fourth line on the ice.
BLACK EYE: There’s been plenty of talk about Vladimir Tarasenko potentially being a name available on the trade market if things really go bad in St. Louis. That means there are plenty of curious onlookers wondering what’s going to happen with Tarasenko over the next six weeks leading up to the NHL trade deadline. Well, there are also nights like tonight where Tarasenko finished with zero shots, a minus-2 rating and just two shots on net while really not exerting much of an influence in the game against the Bruins. Brayden Schenn was a much stronger force with an assist and seven registered hits as he played physical, effective hockey for the Blues while also looking strong on the puck leading up St. Louis’ second goal of the night.
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TURNING POINT: For the Bruins it was absolutely tying the game in the second period with about four minutes to go prior to the second intermission. David Backes camped in front of the net and still managed to get a tip on a Zdeno Chara shot even as he was getting pushed off his spot in the slot. The score from Backes in his first game back from being a healthy scratch tied things up at 2-2, and gave the Bruins all kinds of life for a third period where they fired off three unanswered goals despite playing the second night of a back-to-back. Once the game was tied in the second period, it was all over.
HONORABLE MENTION: It wasn’t David Krejci’s best game in terms of points, face-off performance or even shots on net, but the playmaking center was excellent while piling up three assists in very different scenarios. His best play was Boston’s first goal of the game as Krejci wheeled around the offensive zone drawing all the defenders toward him, and then found Torey Krug wide open in the slot for the blast past Jake Allen. Later he got the secondary assist on the game-tying goal and he racked up his third assist on the Sean Kuraly empty netter at the end. But in all Krejci finished with three assists, a plus-1 rating three shots on net and three takeaways in 22:16 of ice time while playing a very strong two-way game.
Boston Bruins
BY THE NUMBERS: 252 – the number of career wins for Tuukka Rask, which ties Tiny Thompson atop the Bruins all-time goaltending list. It was a run of the mill 28-save game for Tuukka Rask where he wasn’t pushed too much by the Blues, but Rask was at his best in the third period making 10 saves while the B’s blew open the game with three unanswered goals.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “it was a big game for us. The week hasn’t been what we would’ve hoped. We’ve been
playing good hockey but not getting the results that we need right now. But tonight was a big
game. A bounce back game.” –Brad Marchand, on a big win over the Blues after a pretty rough loss to the Flyers just 24 hours earlier in Philly.
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