Talking Points: Bruins get enough offense to take out Ducks

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Talking points from the Bruins' 3-1 win over the Ducks. . .

GOLD STAR: Torey Krug continued with his recent offensive tear scoring the eventual game-winning goal in the second period, and finishing with a goal and two points in 20:30 of ice time. Krug finished with a game-high seven shots on net and nine total shot attempts while being extremely active attacking the net, and continues to shed some of the tendencies to shoot for tips and rebounds rather than going right at the net. The goal did arrive a little closer to the net, however, as he moved into the face-off circle before finishing off the criss-cross passing with a blast into the open net as John Gibson couldn’t recover quickly enough to stop it. Krug now has four goals in his last eight games and continues to add another dimension to Boston’s offense during his hot streak.

BLACK EYE: The Ducks penalty kill ends up being the biggest weakness in the game for either team as the Bruins struck for a couple of powerplay goals in the second period to wrest control of the game. It looked like it was going to be a 1-0 final based on the complete lack of offense in the first period for either team, but that gave way to the Bruins capitalizing on their special teams play in the second period like they have so many times this season. Going 1-for-3 on the penalty kill certainly isn’t a recipe for success, and the Bruins were really able to work the Anaheim PK for a couple of good offensive looks for David Pastrnak and Torey Krug.

TURNING POINT: For the Bruins, it was all about cracking open the seal and scoring that first goal with David Pastrnak. Once No. 88 had wound up and smashed the one-timer through John Gibson and given the Bruins a little energy and offensive life, they were able to seize hold of the game and start playing like front-runners. Prior to that, it had been a real struggle for either team to generate much of anything 5-on-5, and it certainly looked like it might be a while before either club was going to be able to scratch for at least one goal. Instead, the Pastrnak score opened the doors for the Bruins to score again in the second, and then tack on the insurance David Krejci score in the third period that carried them all the way to the coveted two points.

HONORABLE MENTION: David Krejci scored his 600th career point with his third-period goal, and continued to be excellent at the controls centering Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak for his eighth straight game. Krejci now has five goals and 11 points in those eight games since sliding up to center the two-star wingers during a road game in Tampa, and he hasn’t looked back since then while ably filling in for the injured Patrice Bergeron. Krejci finished with the goal and two shot attempts in 15:45 of ice time while also going 6-for-12 in the face-off circle battling Anaheim’s top centermen. It will be interesting to see what the B’s do once Bergeron presumably returns on Saturday afternoon, but either way it’s been instructive to see Krejci play as well as he has in the last three or four years.

BY THE NUMBERS: 600 – the number of career points for David Krejci after scoring his goal in the third period of Boston’s Thursday night win over the Ducks.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I like snowmen.” –David Pastrnak, when asked about his blue snowman suit that he wore before and after Thursday night’s 3-1 win over the Ducks.  

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