Bruins

The Bruins didn't enjoy their first game back after a three-day holiday break.

Boston traveled to Columbus and was embarrassed with a 6-2 loss to the Blue Jackets. After the sport, Charlie Coyle promised a greater result when the teams met again on Saturday evening.

Well, Boston kept that promise.

Bruins fans flocked to the TD Garden and watched Boston handily defeat the Blue Jackets 4-0, quickly avenging the loss.

“It was a very important game for us,” Pastrnak told reporters after the sport. “They had our number in the first two games. I think we only play them three times this season so we wanted to give something back to them. … It was a big win for us.”

Pastrnak, who suffered a knock in Monday's game against the Washington Capitals, appeared comfortable heading into Saturday's contest. At least comfortable enough to attain his thirteenth goal of the season in a breakaway group with a clever move.

Boston's superstar scorer had the advantage of being in the fitting place at the fitting time when he scored. As Columbus attempted to enter the zone, a deflection bounced off Morgan Geekie's stick, and Geekie quickly redirected it down the ice to Pastrnak, who was already on the ice with no Blue Jacket inside five feet of him.

“The first thing you think about is you hope the defender doesn’t get you,” Pastrnak said. “When I freak out, I definitely have about five to 10 different thoughts within two seconds.”

Geekie scored a goal of his own in the competition and was amongst seven different points earned by Boston on Saturday night. More importantly, the Bruins defense played much tighter in front of their net. After hanging Joonas Korpisalo out to dry on Friday, they remained a clean crease ahead of Jeremy Swayman in Round 2, requiring the goaltender to make just 18 saves in his shutout.

The Bruins are getting closer to being the team many expected them to be in preseason due to a robust month of December. And playing at TD Garden contributed to that success. Boston is on a six-game home winning streak and hasn't lost in any respect on the Garden in the ultimate month of 2024.

Because of this, the Bruins are in third place within the Atlantic Division and sixth within the Eastern Conference. Good enough for a playoff spot when the season ends tomorrow.