Rask, Bruins Shut Out Coyotes 6-0
BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins finally won a home game, and goalie Tuukka Rask pitched his first shutout of the season in a 6-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
Rask, who surrendered 19 goals as the Bruins went 0-3-1 in their first four home games, had a relatively easy night in goal and Boston won its second straight.
The Bruins (4-3-1) improved to 4-0-1 over their past five games, a stretch in which they have 26 goals.
Rask, who has won his only road start, made 24 saves in his 27th career shutout. He helped the Bruins beat the Coyotes for the seventh straight time, the second time this season. Rask is 7-1 lifetime against Arizona.
Center David Krejci, who came into the game as the NHL's leading scorer, had two goals and extended his points streak to all eight games. Right winger Jimmy Hayes, defenseman Joe Morrow, right winger Brett Connolly and left winger Brad Marchand (power play) also got the puck past Mike Smith in the Arizona goal.
Smith, who kept things respectable until midway through the third period, made 21 saves as the Coyotes (5-4-1) saw their two-game winning streak end.
Left winger Matt Beleskey, who returned to the Bruins' lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury, right winger Loui Eriksson and Hayes had two assists apiece, while Marchand also had an assist in the win.
The Bruins defeated the Coyotes 5-3 in Glendale, Ariz., on Oct. 17. Krejci finished with a goal and an assist in that game.
Krejci has seven goals and 14 points in the eight games, while Connolly has scored in three consecutive games.
Krejci walked down the left side on a two-on-one and faked a backhand pass to winger Brett Connolly, then flipped the puck on the forehand up high on Smith, who fell to 3-11-0 lifetime against the Bruins.
The goal came with 2:38 left in the first period, and the Bruins scored two more in the second.
Smith stopped a backhander by Beleskey, and Hayes put home the rebound for his third goal in five games. The goal came less than a minute after Rask made his best save of the first two periods.
Late in the second period, Morrow walked in over the blue line and was given too much room before beating Smith with a 35-footer. It was his first goal of the season and his second in 20 NHL games.
NOTES: Arizona C Martin Hanzal, who had an NHL-best 10 assists in the first nine games, sustained a lower-body injury in Monday night's win in Toronto and did not play. C Antoine Vermette, without a point in seven games, was also out with a lower-body injury. ... LW John Scott dressed for his second game of the season. ... The Bruins sent veteran LW Max Talbot to Providence. He dressed for just the first two games of the season. ... The Coyotes return home to open a three-game homestand against Vancouver on Friday night. The Bruins head south to play at Florida and Tampa Bay on Friday and Saturday.
