Bruins ride four-goal first period to win

BOSTON -- Torey Krug and Matt Beleskey each scored his first goal of the season during a four-goal first period, and the Boston Bruins defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 at TD Garden on Thursday.
Austin Czarnik and Tim Schaller also scored in the first, David Backes had a goal in the second period, and Tuukka Rask made 16 saves for Boston (8-6-0), which has won five of its past seven games.
"We definitely assessed that there's 40 minutes left and the game's not over," said Rask, who is 8-1-0. "We have to keep playing the same way as we did. It's a cliché, but that's all you kind of have to put in your head and go out there and work. And we did today, and that paid off in a big time. We never really gave them a break.

WATCH: All Blue Jackets vs. Bruins highlights
Nick Foligno and Sam Gagner scored for Columbus (6-4-2), which lost in regulation for the first time in six games (4-1-1). Sergei Bobrovsky, who had won his four previous starts, allowed four goals on nine shots before being pulled in the first period.
"I thought we had a good start. They turned it up a notch. We didn't compete hard enough tonight," Foligno said. "[Bobrovsky] had been playing well for us and to have him get chased out of the net is a bad situation. A lot of self-inflicted wounds."
Columbus took a 1-0 lead when a Zdeno Chara giveaway along the wall in the Boston end allowed Alex Wennberg to set up Foligno at 2:29.

The Bruins tied it 1-1 when Krug's one-timer from the right point went in off Blue Jackets forward Scott Hartnell at 8:47. Czarnik set up Beleskey to put Boston ahead 2-1 at 9:55.
Czarnik extended the lead to 3-1 at 12:24 with a one-timer past Bobrovsky off a pass from Riley Nash on a 2-on-1. Schaller gave the Bruins a 4-1 lead with a backhand shot past Bobrovsky at 12:48. Play continued after Schaller scored, but the goal was awarded after video review following a stoppage at 13:31.
Bobrovsky was replaced by Curtis McElhinney (22 saves) at that point.
Backes extended the Boston lead to 5-1 when he scored on a one-timer from the left hash marks off a pass from David Krejci at 11:51 of the second period.
Gagner got credit for a goal that cut the Bruins lead to 5-2 when Boston defenseman Colin Miller put it in his own net at 8:40 of the third period after Dominic Moore won a faceoff against Gagner.

Goal of the game

Krug's goal might not have been the prettiest (it went in off Hartnell's backside), but the Bruins needed it to tie the game 1-1, and he needed it to end a 14-game drought dating to April 7 against the Detroit Red Wings. Krug went 54 games without a goal last season before he scored against Detroit.

Save of the game

Bobrovsky had a short night, but he made a good save against Ryan Spooner at 10:34 of the first period. After a Columbus turnover in the right faceoff circle, Bobrovsky came out to the top of the crease to challenge Spooner and got enough of his blocker on a wrist shot from the slot.

Highlight of the game

Schaller scored Boston's fourth goal of the first period with a backhand shot after he lugged the puck to the front of the net against Columbus defensemen Zach Werenski and David Savard.

Unsung moment of the game

Chara made a pass from his own goal line up to Beleskey at the Columbus blue line before Czarnik's goal. Beleskey passed to Nash to set up the short 2-on-1.

They said it

"Especially in our end zone, we had a number of unforced turnover by defensemen, by forwards. And then after that, we just ran around. You can talk about turnovers in the neutral zone. No, no. These were in our end zone and most of them were self-inflicted."-- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella

"It was a good feeling. Obviously, individually, you want to get off a little cold streak that you have, and it's nice to get on the board. But I think it was an important goal for the game. We knew that they started fast. They always outscore their opponents for the first couple periods. So it was important to get us back into the game, and it was just a good feeling for sure." -- Bruins defenseman Torey Krug on his first goal of the season

Need to know

Bruins forward Noel Acciari did not play. He will miss four weeks because of a lower-body injury he sustained in the third period of a 4-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

What's next

Blue Jackets: Home against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, FS-MW, NHL.TV).
Bruins: At the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-A, NESN, NHL.TV)