David Pastrnak's Late Goal Gives Bruins 4-3 Win Over Vancouver
BOSTON -- David Pastrnak provided the heroics and the Boston Bruins provided interim coach Bruce Cassidy with his second straight win behind their bench on Saturday.
Pastranak scored a spectacular goal with two minutes left, giving the Bruins a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
Pastranak took a long pass from David Krejci, went 1-on-1 with defenseman Christopher Tanev, stopped, drew the puck back and beat Ryan Miller with his 25th goal of the season.
In the last three games, Pastrnak has five goals and four assists.
The Canucks, who tied the game 3-3 on a power play goal by Markus Granlund with 5:37 left, put the pressure on goaltender Anton Khudobin, hitting a post but failing to score.
Khudobin, whose season has been a disaster since he signed a two-year contract to return to Boston, played a strong game, making 29 saves in only the second Boston victory of the season not recorded by Tuukka Rask.
Khudobin improved to 2-5-1 and the backups as a group are 2-10-2.
Defensemen Kevan and Colin Miller and Frank Vatrano also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 14-13-0 at home. Vatrano and Krejci each had two assists.
Cassidy, an assistant under Claude Julien this season, took over when Julien was fired on Tuesday and led the Bruins (28-23-6) to a 6-3 home victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
With Saturday's victory, Boston has a chance to sweep a three-game homestand if the Bruins can defeat the rival the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night.
The hated Habs, however, have won nine straight games (including the Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium) in the Boston area dating to their last loss in Boston Jan. 12, 2012.
After Bo Horvat gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead with a goal that gave him 100 career points 4:56 into the game, Kevan Miller and Vatrano scored before the end of the first period.
Vatrano scored the Bruins' 10th power play goal in the last seven games. Alexandre Burrows tied the game for Vancouver with a goal in the final second of the second period.
Miller made 28 saves in the loss, the regulation defeat hurting the Canucks' push for a Western Conference playoff spot, as they fell to 7-17-3 on the road.
After failing to hold onto a 1-0 lead, the Canucks, who were coming off a 3-0 win at Columbus, dominated the final three minutes of the second period and got the puck past Khudobin as time was expiring.
Henrik Sedin hit the crossbar after pass from brother Daniel Sedin. Khudobin stopped Burrows' deflection and Horvat's rebound shot but, soon after, Burrows, who also had an assist, jammed the puck home with six-tenths of a second remaining.
NOTES: Bruins D Zdeno Chara (illness) returned after missing Thursday night's game. ... LW Peter Cehlarik made his NHL debut for Boston and was placed on a line with fellow Czechs David Krejci and David Pastrnak. ... Canucks RW Loui Eriksson, who scored 62 goals for the Bruins over the last three seasons, 30 of them last year, made his return to TD Garden. ... Fourteen members of the champion New England Patriots family, including Super Bowl hero James White and Matthew Slater, were on hand for a puck drop before the game, White dropping the puck. ... Canucks LW Sven Baertschi missed his second straight game because of a concussion, and was sent home from the trip. ... The Canucks are in Buffalo and the Bruins host the rival Canadiens on Sunday night.