The Boston Bruins continue to roll, and do it against high-level competition.
Facing a Dallas Stars team that has already crossed the 100-point mark on the season, the Bruins took early control and battled to retake the lead after giving it up, finishing their fourth straight win by a 6-3 final on Tuesday night at TD Garden. Viktor Arvidsson scored a hat trick, including two empty-netters, while Elias Lindholm scored his fifth goal in six games for the eventual game-winner in the third period. Defensively, the B’s held the Stars to just 16 shots on goal on the night.
Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov got whistled for interference with a subtle move that he might’ve gotten away with if the official wasn’t looking right at him. The B’s ultimately killed it off, and apparently that gave them the momentum they needed to get the game’s first goal.
Shortly after Zadorov exited the box, the Bruins sent the puck high-to-low from the point and the rebound went right to Marat Khusnutdinov, who had gained perfect position in the slot. Khusnutdinov took full advantage, firing his 15th goal of the season to give the B’s their first lead.
Later in the first period, the Bruins extended their lead, this time shortly after the end of a power play. David Pastrnak fished the loose puck out of the corner and whirled it toward the net, and Viktor Arvidsson was there to crash and bang it home to make it 2-0.
The Stars crept back in the game in the second period. They scored their first goal just 4:49 into the middle frame, as Jamie Benn buried a close-range shot after they won a corner puck battle against the Bruins’ otherwise-excellent Charlie McAvoy-Jonathan Aspirot pairing. They struck again with just 3:07 left in the second, again off winning a puck battle behind the Bruins net, this time with Matt Duschene finishing the feed from Jason Robertson.
But the Stars killed their own momentum from there, starting with Benn launching the puck clear over the glass for a delay of game penalty with under two minutes remaining. The power play carried into the third, and the Bruins scored off their first rush of the period, as Elias Lindholm picked the far-side corner to put the B’s back on top, 3-2.
Lindholm is now up to five goals in his last six games, and is now threatening to hit the 20-goal mark with 17 on the season.
Arvidsson added an empty-net goal late in the third, to up his total to 23 on the season. He has a chance to put up his best goalscoring total since 2018-19, when he potted 34 for the Nashville Predators. He glided the puck toward an even easier empty net for his third goal to complete the hat trick.
Matt, a North Andover, Massachusetts native, has been with The Sports Hub since 2010. Growing up the son of Boston University All-American and Melrose High School hall-of-fame hockey player Steve Dolloff, sports was always a part of his life. After attending Northeastern University, Matt focused his love of sports on writing, extensively writing about all four major Boston teams. He also is a co-host of the Sports Hub Underground podcast and is a regular on-air contributor on the Sports Hub. Matt writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.