GOLD STAR: David Krejci didn’t seem to miss much of a beat after missing the past few weeks as he scored the second goal of the game and was as active offensively as he’s been in his limited time this season. After his power-play goal in the first period, he fed Charlie Coyle down low with a razor-sharp pass to the backdoor, part of the B's three-goal uprising that put the game away early. In all, Krejci finished with a goal, two points, three shots on nets, six total shot attempts and a plus-1 rating in 19:19 of ice time. He wasn’t quite midseason Krejci when it came to his handle on the puck or his skating legs, but he looked pretty darn good after missing a handful of games.
BLACK EYE: Evander Kane continues his long tradition of being a fake tough guy when it comes to the Bruins. He’s been ducking Kevan Miller for years and this time around it was again evading Zdeno Chara after throwing a number of questionable hits against Charlie McAvoy. Kane first caught Chara’s attention when he elbowed McAvoy in the face and was penalized for it, which caused a scrum among the players. Then Kane took a run at McAvoy against the end boards and skated away from Chara until a referee got in between them and Kane then turned around and begin jawing with the 6-foot-9 captain. The entire scenario eventually led to Barclay Goodrow dropping the gloves with Brett Ritchie, which would have never happened if Kane had answered for his own actions on the ice.
TURNING POINT: The Bruins took control right away by turning upside down the one area where the Sharks had been pretty good to start the season: The penalty kill. First, it was David Pastrnak ripping a one-timer from his customary spot at the face-off circle and then it was Krejci from the same exact spot against the suddenly porous Sharks PK. Once the Bruins had the 2-0 lead over, it was just a matter of pouring it on for the Black and Gold against a San Jose bunch that looked every bit a Western Conference team at the end of a long five-game trip through the East Coast.
HONORABLE MENTION: Charlie Coyle was clearly moved by the appearance of “The Mighty Quinn” Waters, a 3-year-old battling brain cancer who dropped the ceremonial first puck on Hockey Fights Cancer Night. “The Mighty Quinn”, like Coyle, is a Weymouth, Mass., native who Coyle visited earlier this summer when he couldn’t leave his house due to the compromised nature of his immune system. Quinn has also drawn visits from the Dropkick Murphy’s among others to his South Shore home. Coyle was clearly inspired and finished with a goal in 20:23 of ice time, eight shot attempts, two takeaways and 8-for-13 in the face-off circle. With goals in his past two games, Coyle is finally heating up offensively.
BY THE NUMBERS: 12 – the number of goals for David Pastrnak in October, which ties Charlie Simmer for the second-most goals in franchise history this month behind only 14 from Phil Esposito.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I thought were really sharp. Fourth line pitches in with a big goal, different guys contributing, probably minutes were balanced as well as any game, so in that regard, yeah. I thought we defended well in front of Tuukka [Rask].” –Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, after a win where a forward on every line scored for the Black and Gold.
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