Marchand propels Bruins past Kings for 4th straight win to start season

LOS ANGELES -- Brad Marchand had two goals and an assist, and the Boston Bruins won their fourth straight game to start the season, 4-2 against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

It is the eighth time in Bruins history they have won four or more games to begin a season, and the first since 1990-91. Boston’s longest such winning streak is six games in 1937-38.

“I think we’re using what we felt last year coming into this season, knowing that we can take any team in this league any night,” goalie Jeremy Swayman said. “And we embrace the challenge. We want it to be hard, and that makes a win feel that much better.”

David Pastrnak scored in his fourth straight game and had two assists, and Morgan Geekie scored his first goal for the Bruins (4-0-0). Derek Forbort had two assists, and Swayman made 32 saves.

Alex Laferriere scored his first NHL goal, and Cam Talbot made 21 saves for the Kings (2-2-1), who are 0-2-1 at home.

“I think we have a pretty good path right now as a team of where we need to go and what we need to work on,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said of the winless start on home ice. “We can get there. I really believe we can. But we now have some direction. And that's not a bad thing to have.”

Anze Kopitar passed Dustin Brown to become the Kings' leader in games played with 1,297. He is one of three active players to hold his franchise’s record in games played, joining Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“Oh, he’s just the best,” said Forbort, who played with Kopitar for five seasons. “Such a good captain, good leader. Such a good human, so it was really cool to see that. What a legend.”

Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 13:10 of the first period on a wrist shot from the left circle on the power play.

Boston had to kill 55 seconds of a two-man advantage earlier in the period when John Beecher was called for holding Kopitar during a power play for Los Angeles.

The Bruins were 1-for-4 on the power play. The Kings were 1-for-6.

“It’s tough when you get 5-on-3, and if they jack one in the net, you’re chasing the game right from the first couple minutes of the game,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “Our penalty kill has been excellent all year long. And our special teams have been really good so far this year.”

Laferriere tied it 1-1 at 6:28 of the second period on a breakaway. It was the 21-year-old’s first NHL point in five career games.

“Yeah, it was just an unbelievable play by my linemates,” said Laferriere, a third-round pick (No. 83) in the 2020 NHL Draft. “Kevin [Fiala] made a great pass to 'PL' [Pierre-Luc Dubois], and then PL found me kind of right up the middle. … I was feeling the pressure, so good to get the first one.”

Geekie put the Bruins back ahead 2-1 at 14:45 on the rebound of Forbort’s long shot after it hit off Milan Lucic. It was his first goal for Boston after signing a two-year, $2 million contract on July 1.

“Just right place, right time kind of thing,” Geekie said. “Just try to give it a little extra effort to get through there and just get inside and make a play on the puck.”

Marchand extended the lead 48 seconds later at 15:33 to 3-1 when his shot from above the left circle went in between Talbot’s legs.

Marchand pushed it to 4-1 at 17:48 of the third period with his second goal. He has six points (three goals, three assists) during a four-game streak.

Carl Grundstrom scored on the power play at 18:49 for the 4-2 final.

It was the first power-play goal the Bruins have allowed this season after killing their first 18 penalties.

“Who knew our kryptonite was PP3? Got us at the end,” Forbort said.

NOTES: Pastrnak has eight points (five goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. … James van Riemsdyk had an assist to extend his point streak to three games (three goals, one assist). … Fiala has seven assists during a four-game streak. … Kings defenseman Drew Doughty played his 1,100th NHL game. He is the 12th defenseman in League history to play 1,100 games with one franchise.