BOSTON — One thing interim coach Bruce Cassidy emphasized when he took over the Boston Bruins was that he wanted his defensemen to look to do more offensively.
It worked well Saturday in his second game.
David Pastrnak scored the tiebreaking goal with two minutes left, defensemen Colin Miller and Kevan Miller each had a goal and Boston won its second straight under Cassidy with a 4-3 victory against the Vancouver Canucks.
“We’ve asked them to get involved,” Cassidy said. “It’s a matter of finding them and (a) matter of finishing.”
Miller knows it’s a fine line between when to go to the offensive end or stay back.
“You’re playing with fire sometimes,” he said. “You’ve got to be careful. I think that’s something we’re going to learn.”
Cassidy took over earlier in the week when the Bruins fired Claude Julien, who was in his 10th season and coached the team to a 2011 Stanley Cup win. Boston also won in Cassidy’s debut, 6-3 over San Jose on Thursday.
Frank Vatrano added a goal and two assists for the Bruins, who posted their fifth win in seven games.
“He expects a lot out of his players,” said Vatrano, who played under Cassidy at Providence of the AHL. “He wants you to play to your capabilities and expects the guys to compete night in and night out.”
Backup goaltender Anton Khudobin made 29 saves for Boston. Ryan Miller had 26 for the Canucks.
“To give it up with two minutes left is hard,” Vancouver Coach Willie Desjardins said.
The Canucks had made it 3-3 on Markus Granlund’s goal with 5:37 remaining.
“I thought we battled hard enough to win,” said Canucks forward Loui Erikssson, who spent three seasons with the Bruins before signing a $36 million, six-year deal with Vancouver during the offseason.
Pastrnak took a pass along the left wing, slid the puck backward to himself before recollecting it and slipping a wrister past Ryan Miller.
Bo Horvat scored for Vancouver, giving him 100 career points. He’s the first Canucks player to reach that mark at 21 years old or younger since Petr Nedved did it at 21 in 1993.
Alexandre Burrows had the other goal for the Canucks.
Colin Miller one-timed Jimmy Hayes’ drop pass with a rising shot into the net, pushing Boston ahead 3-2 early in the third.
Down 2-1, the Canucks tied it on Burrows’ goal out of a scramble with six-tenths of a second left in the second, his first since Dec. 31.
BEFORE THE game, the Bruins honored the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Fourteen members of the team walked onto center ice wearing Bruins jerseys with their names and numbers on the back.
Running back James White – who scored three touchdowns in New England’s 34-28 comeback win over Atlanta last Sunday, including the game-winner in the first Super Bowl to go into overtime – dropped the first puck. Special teams captain Matthew Slater, and linemen Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer, were a few of the notable players who participated.
There was a video package of highlights played on the Jumbotron before they entered.
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