A lightning-fast start carried the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night, as Boston earned its ninth victory in the past 11 games.
Charlie McAvoy sparked a decisive three-goal explosion in just 54 seconds during the first period, while David Pastrnak finished with a goal and two assists. Elias Lindholm and Tanner Jeannot also scored for the Bruins, who took full advantage of a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Vegas forward Tomas Hertl midway through the opening frame.
Joonas Korpisalo, making his second consecutive start, turned aside 29 shots to help Boston withstand a late push.
The Bruins jumped ahead when McAvoy hammered a shot from inside the blue line only 10 seconds into the extended power play. Lindholm followed 30 seconds later with a goal from the slot, with Pastrnak setting up both tallies. Jeannot completed the rapid surge at the 9:54 mark, giving Boston a 3-0 cushion.
Boston added to the lead early in the second period as Nikita Zadorov created space with a slick move before feeding Pastrnak, who snapped home his 21st goal of the season to make it 4-0.
Vegas made things enjoyable in the third. Jack Eichel and Tomas Hertl scored early to cut the deficit in half, and Pavel Dorofeyev pulled the Golden Knights within one with 2:35 remaining after Akira Schmid was pulled for an extra skater. Boston, however, held firm down the stretch to secure the win.
Up next
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Golden Knights: Visit Toronto on Friday night.
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Bruins: Host Montreal on Saturday night.