The Boston Bruins have not always started games on time, but they have figured out how to finish them. 

The Bruins (7-2-0) swept the California part of their four-game road trip, scoring four unanswered goals in a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings (0-4-2) on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena. David Pastrnak (4), Marat Khusnutdinov (2), Elias Lindholm (3), and JJ Peterka (3) scored, while Jeremy Swayman stopped 25 of 26 shots for his sixth win of the season. 

For the second straight night, the Bruins conceded first. This time, it did not take the entire first period before the ice broke. The Kings only needed 31 seconds before Alex Laferriere opened the scoring on Saturday night. 

“I know we talked about it,” Marco Sturm said to reporters in Los Angeles. “As long as we finish the right way, I’m okay, but we definitely need to work on our starts. We do it better at home, I feel like, than on the road, but that’s something we definitely need to be better at.” 

The Kings outshot the Bruins 12-6 in the first 20 minutes, outattempted them 26-17, and generated seven high-danger chances to the Bruins’ two. It was another slow start for the Bruins, who saw themselves chasing another deficit after the first 20 minutes. 

However, for the second straight night, the Bruins scored four unanswered goals, enough to pick up another two points in Southern California. 

“Very similar game to last night,” Sturm, who is now 3-0-0 against his old team, said. “First period, they were much better, no doubt. Second period, we thought it was a little bit of a change. And yeah, in the third period, we just continued to play our game. That’s all.” 

The Bruins had to adjust to the Kings’ 1-3-1 neutral zone system, which David Pastrnak said is “not easy [because] you don’t play [against] that often.” Marco Sturm knows the system and said after making adjustments for the second period, the Bruins looked “much better.”

They also had to make some changes of their own going into the game, which, during a win streak, tends not to happen unless you are forced to. One was forced upon Sturm and the Bruins, but the other was his own doing. 

Roughly 90 minutes before puck drop, Sturm announced that Pavel Zacha is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He also mentioned that Nikita Zadorov was a healthy scratch, citing “his discipline on the ice.” Sean Kuraly entered the lineup, as did Jonathan Aspirot.

Sturm praised both Aspirot and Kuraly postgame, calling Aspirot “excellent” and saying he was “very very happy that [Kuraly] had a great game.” 

With Kuraly coming in, Fraser Minten moved to the top line, and Matt Poitras assumed 2C duties. Those were not the only changes Sturm made. Going into the third period, he swapped JJ Peterka and Morgan Geekie. Peterka joined Pastrnak and Minten on the top line, while Geekie slotted alongside Khusnutdinov and Poitras. 

“I mixed it up a little bit just to get a little bit more out of some of the guys and lines,” Sturm said postgame. 

The new-look second line made the difference and broke the tie in the third period. Geekie steered a shot at Anton Forsberg. Poitras poked the rebound through to Khusnutdinov, who was staring at an open net. 

“Just drive to the net,” Khusnutdinov said postgame. “It’s a good bounce. Good play by Geeks and Potsy.” 

Elias Lindholm and JJ Peterka each potted empty-net goals to seal the win. 

The Bruins have won their last five games, but they have not made it easy on themselves. They fall behind early, adjust, and find their game in the third period. The Bruins lead the league with 16 goals in the third period, compared to nine in the first and eight in the second.

They have also allowed only five goals in the third period, giving them a league-best plus-11 goal differential in the final 20 minutes. 

“We are confident playing, we are comfortable playing in those tight games, and you know, obviously, a little bit more mature than last year,” Pastrnak said after the game. “Even though we have more younger guys. They’ve been playing really well. They came [up] big for us many times, and it’s just a certain calmness in the group.” 

It’s a clean sweep of the California road trip, which fared much differently for the Bruins in March 2025. The fourth and final game of the road trip is in Dallas on Tuesday night, where the Bruins have an opportunity to push their win streak to six. 

“Yeah, we grabbed the six points, and you grab two more,” Khusnutdinov said. “I feel everybody [is] ready to play, and yeah, we have a great group.” 

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