BOSTON — Jake DeBrusk set up second-period power-play goals by David Backes and Charlie McAvoy and added a goal of his own, Tuukka Rask stopped 16 shots to keep up his hot stretch, and the Boston Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2 on Monday night.
Brad Marchand, Danton Heinen, Torey Krug and Patrice Bergeron also scored for the Bruins, who had a season-high scoring total while halting a two-game skid. Rask improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven starts. McAvoy also had an assist and his first career NHL fight.
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who: Bruins at Sabres
when: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
TV: NBCSN
Josh Anderson and Seth Jones scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves – including a penalty shot by Tim Schaller – for the Blue Jackets.
Columbus lost for the third in four games and was dominated in the first two periods when the Blue Jackets fell into a 3-0 hole.
Leading 1-0 in the second, DeBrusk made his two very nice cross-ice passes, helping the Bruins convert on consecutive power plays just over five minutes apart.
On the first, DeBrusk skated deep down the left wing and sent a pass across to Backes, who one-timed a shot into the net.
DeBrusk then set up McAvoy’s goal with a pass across the slot from the bottom of the right circle. McAvoy one-timed it into the net before Bobrovsky could get to the other side of the crease.
The Bruins owned a 28-14 edge in shots on goal after two periods, dictating play for most of the game. Columbus had just one shot on goal by a forward in the opening period.
Anderson converted a feed from Alexander Wennberg 8:32 into the third, but Heinen scored to seal it.
Rask made a solid pad stop on Cam Atkinson’s partial breakaway with the Bruins on a power play early in the second.
Marchand made it 1-0 when he one-timed a drop pass from Bergeron inside the right post for his 14th goal with 5:12 left in the first.
Earlier in the period, Schaller missed a wide-open net when he hit the left post on a rebound with Bobrovsky out of position.
McAvoy got into a fight in the third period. Injured Bruin Adam McQuaid watched the replay on a TV in the press box, smiled and said: “He just needs an assist now,” referring to a Gordie Howe hat trick of a goal, an assist and a fight.
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