Pavel Zacha’s back-to-back tallies capped a three-goal flurry in the second period of the Boston Bruins’ 5-2 win over the visiting St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
Six Bruins registered multiple points as Morgan Geekie had a goal and two assists, Viktor Arvidsson and Alex Steeves each notched a goal and an assist, Elias Lindholm dished three assists and Mason Lohrei added two helpers.
Joonas Korpisalo made 37 saves to earn his first win since Nov. 6.
Pavel Buchnevich and Pius Suter each scored and Jordan Binnington stopped 22 shots for St. Louis, which has dropped two straight and gone 3-4-3 in its last 10.
Steeves opened the scoring 6:30 into the game. Lindholm’s backhand pass found Geekie gliding down the left wing, where he made a cross-ice dish to Steeves to bury from the bottom of the opposite circle for his fifth goal in five games.
Lindholm helped set the table for Boston’s second goal at 11:25, dishing a puck out of the corner to Geekie for a top-shelf finish over Binnington.
Buchnevich brought St. Louis within 2-1 just 1:59 into the middle frame. He rocketed home a feed from Colton Parayko, who made a steal along the wall and fed a pass from below the goal line to the left circle.
The Bruins provided an emphatic answer, finishing the period on a three-goal run.
At 6:04, Lohrei’s shot in transition created a long bounding rebound that Arvidsson slapped past Binnington from a challenging angle.
Zacha’s back-to-back goals before the end of the second increased the Boston lead to 5-1. At 12:26, he took an Arvidsson feed through the neutral zone and cut into the high slot to score a wrist shot.
With just two-tenths of a second left in the period, Zacha was stationed on the right side of the goalmouth to slide home Lindholm’s cross-crease pass on the power play.
St. Louis got a goal closer with 10:53 left. After Korpisalo made an impressive kick save on Dylan Holloway coming down the left side, the winger stayed with the play behind the net and threaded a pass through a defender to Suter, who finished out front.
Blues forward Aleksanteri Kaskimaki played 15:17 in his NHL debut.
–Field Level Media
