Big Third Helps Bruins to Sixth Straight Win

BUFFALO - The Bruins scored three goals in the third to break things open and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night at KeyBank Center. Five different players scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 29 saves to lift Boston to its sixth consecutive victory.
"Not a lot of poor stretches, I think that shows in our goals against. We don't have these lulls where you have pockets of poor puck management shift after shift," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of the winning streak. "I think we've eliminated large pockets of those and been able to keep our game going in a straight line, north-south, for the full 60 minutes.
"And then our goaltending has put out the fires, right? We don't give up much. You've got to give credit where credit's due. They've made some big time stops - haven't been asked to make a volume of stops, but quality ones when we've needed them.
"They've made that stop to sort of get us back in the game, now get back to playing our way. I think that's been two or three things that we've done well."

Swayman Solid Again

Swayman continues to be a revelation for the Bruins. The rookie netminder was outstanding once again, making a number of big-time saves, including two consecutive stops on Tage Thompson's breakaway attempt in the third period.
"Composure is definitely a thing for him," said Cassidy. "Doesn't seem to get rattled, tracks pucks very well…he's not stuck deep in his net. He's very good at that, getting out there and getting to his spot and not getting knocked off it. So that's probably a little bit of aggressiveness, a little bit of physical strength.
"That's probably what I've seen so far, and it's only been about three weeks now. But, certainly a guy that looks capable every time he's in there. And a little bit more comfortable each time."
With his 29-save performance, the 22-year-old improved to 5-1-0 with a 1.65 goals against average and .943 save percentage. But despite his hot start, Swayman said he is far from satisfied.
"I had a coach tell me, never get comfortable...so that's a mindset that I've had," said Swayman. "I'm never going to feel settled. I'm gonna work my butt off every day to make sure I'm getting better, I'm earning my spot, and doing whatever I can to help the team win…I'm not comfortable."
Jaroslav Halak backed up on Thursday night with Tuukka Rask slated to go in the finale of this three-game set with the Sabres on Friday.

Ritchie Pots One

Nick Ritchie snapped a 10-game scoreless streak when he potted an insurance tally at 6:01 of the third period. The winger's 11th of the season came just 1:06 after David Pastrnak's pretty wrister and put Boston up 4-1.
The goal was a bit of relief for the B's new-look third line, which had struggled to cash in on its chances in recent games. Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle both picked up assists on the marker. The helper was Coyle's 300th career point.
"We were kind of thrown together for about a week and a half now," said Ritchie. "Had some ups and downs as a line. Obviously, some adjustments playing with new guys, JD playing a different wing. Tonight was, I think, one of our better games, getting in on the forecheck and got some pucks back and played a pretty good game. Hopefully we can build off this moving forward…I think we're looking up now and going in the right direction."

Pastrnak Finds Twine

Pastrnak gave the Bruins some breathing room with the first of three third-period goals for the Black & Gold. The winger cruised into the offensive zone and cut to the slot before shooting across his body and beating Dustin Tokarski far side to give Boston a two-goal advantage at 4:55 of the third.
"We were joking we've got to find the key to his handcuffs, you know?" Cassidy joked. "He just didn't have it, for whatever reason. It was going off his stick. Today he just felt much more comfortable. Hitting his shot, through the neutral zone, making some plays, some sauce passes that are on the tape, 1-on-1 moves where the puck's sticking to him like it used to.
"Hopefully it's a sign of things to come for him, because he's fought it a bit lately. Maybe this is the start of what he needs, a game like this to get him going a little bit. Even his legs looked a little better tonight than the other night, had more pace through the neutral zone as well."

Getting Even

The Bruins' 5-on-5 play has improved dramatically during their six-game winning streak. During that stretch, Boston has scored 22 goals, second-most behind Vegas (26), with 17 of them coming at even strength.
"Our lines are playing more together and our chemistry's coming," said Ritchie. "Obviously we picked up some pretty good players at the trade deadline that have helped us a lot. It wasn't gonna happen where we weren't gonna score all season. It was gonna come and I think it's coming at the right time now."
At the same time, the B's power play has struggled at a 1-for-18 clip during the win streak. That has been canceled out by Boston's penalty kill, which has gone 11 for 11 over the past two games and is 26 for 28 since the deadline.
"The issues on the power play are our entries for one, I think we're too individualistic," said Cassidy. "Structure's in place…I think we've got to get back on the same page in our entries. In zone, I thought the first group moved it around the first time, had some looks.
"Then some of it is execution; we've misfired on some shots. Forced a few plays that aren't there. That's it, we're going through a stretch right now that doesn't look good. We're going to work to address it."

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