Tuukka Rask impressive again for Bruins

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Tuukka Rask made 30 saves and came within 7:55 of his third shutout in 10 starts, helping the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Saturday.
Rask is 9-1-0 this season. He lowered his goal-against average to 1.68.
"I don't know that he had to make a ton of unbelievable stops; they shot mostly from the outside," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Tuukka just made the saves he had to make, and that was important."

Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak scored goals in the second period for the Bruins (9-6-0), who have won six of their past eight games.
WATCH: All Bruins vs. Coyotes highlights
Pastrnak's goal was his 10th of the season and his fifth in the past six games for Boston, which opened a three-game road trip impressively, dominating the first period but drawing the ire of Julien for taking its foot off the gas pedal.
"We played a good first period, no doubt," Julien said. "But in the second, we looked like a team that thought it was going to be an easy night. We stopped doing the thing that we'd done so well, so I wasn't very pleased with the rest of the game."

Radim Vrbata scored his sixth goal for the Coyotes (5-9-0), who have lost back-to-back home games for the first time this season. Louis Domingue made 27 saves for Arizona in his 11th start in the past 12 games.
Five of Arizona's nine losses have been decided by one goal.
"Overall we are close, but it's not good enough," Vrbata said. "This is a league where you need points. Even though we've lost most of the games by one goal, it's not enough."
The Bruins had a 10-9 lead in shots, but the amount of scoring chances was more lopsided. Domingue made several nice reaction saves and got some help when Patrice Bergeron hit the post and Pastrnak hit the crossbar about seven minutes apart.

"We had five or six good chances in the first," Spooner said. "If we had beared down there, we probably could have been up by at least two or three."
But Boston kept the pressure on in the second period and was able to cash in. With Spooner creating traffic in front, David Krejci found Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara, who eluded Jamie McGinn between the circles for a one-timer that deflected off Spooner and past Domingue at 7:54.
Spooner's third goal gave him a point in four of the past six games. The assist the 400th of Chara's career. Pastrnak made it 2-0 at 9:44 with a one-timer off a feed from Brad Marchand.
The Coyotes got within 2-1 in the third period on the power play. With Jordan Martinook screening in front, Tony DeAngelo set up Vrbata for a shot that hit the post before deflecting off Rask's back and into the net at 12:05.

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Goal of the game

Pretty passes from Torey Krug and Marchand allowed Pastrnak to step into a shot that beat Domingue.

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Save of the game

Domingue kept the Coyotes in the game as long as he could. He made a pad save on Bergeron after the latter got behind the Coyotes defense with less than six minutes left in the second period.

Unsung moment of the game

Bergeron won 19 of his 24 faceoffs and dominated Coyotes forward Brad Richardson, who lost all 10 of his draws in the first two periods. One of Bergeron's wins in the second period led directly to Pastrnak's goal and several others were catalysts for scoring chances.

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Highlight of the game

Rask made a nice save in close on Max Domi in the slot in the second period and got some help from teammate David Backes when Domi tried to stuff the rebound inside the post.

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They said it

"He's got a bomb, so I was kind of scared to stand in front there. But I was happy when it wound up in the back of the net." -- Bruins forward Ryan Spooner on Zdeno Chara
"There are nine players in our lineup that are first or second-year players. That's unprecedented in the NHL right now. They are going to grow and continue to get better, hence I think our team will get better." -- Coyotes coach Dave Tippett

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Need to know

Tippett said he thinks goalie Mike Smith and center Martin Hanzal will be ready when the Coyotes open a two-game road trip against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.

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What's next

Bruins: At the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ALT, NESN, NHL.TV
Coyotes: At the Calgary Flames on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; SN, SN1, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)