The Bruins did not enjoy their first game back from a three day holiday break.
Boston travelled to Columbus and got embarrassed in a 6-2 loss to the Blue Jackets. Following the game, Charlie Coyle promised a better result when the teams met again on Saturday night.
Well, Boston delivered on that promise.
Bruins fans filled TD Garden and watched Boston shut out the Blue Jackets in dominant fashion, 4-0, quickly avenging its loss.
“It was a very important game for us,” Pastrnak told reporters postgame. “They had our number the first two games. I think we only play them three times this season, so we wanted to give it back to them a little bit. … It was a big win for us.”
Pastrnak, who got banged up in Monday’s game against the Washington Capitals, seemed comfortable during Saturday’s contest. Comfortable enough, at the very least, to pull out a nifty move to net his 13th goal of the season on a breakaway.
Boston’s superstar scorer had the benefit of being in the right place at the right time on his goal. As Columbus looked to enter the zone, a deflection bounced over to Morgan Geekie’s stick, and Geekie quickly redirected it up ice to Pastrnak, who already turned up ice and had no Blue Jacket within five feet of him.
First thing you think about is you hope the defenseman doesn’t catch you,” Pastrnak said. “When I go breakaway I definitely have about five to 10 different thoughts within two seconds.”
Geekie scored a goal of his own in the contest, and was among seven different point-getters for Boston on Saturday night. More importantly, the Bruins’ defense played much tighter in front of their net. After hanging Joonas Korpisalo out to dry on Friday, they kept a clean crease in front of Jeremy Swayman in round 2, only requiring the goaltender to make 18 saves in his shutout.
The Bruins are building back towards the team many expected them to be preseason, thanks to a strong month of December. And, playing at TD Garden has played a role in that success. Boston is riding a six-game home winning streak, and did not lose at the Garden at all in the final month of 2024.