Bruins Blank Wings For Fourth Straight Win

The Boston Bruins’ one-two punch of Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo is making it really easy for the 18 skaters in front of them.

Through four games of their five-game homestand, Boston netminders have allowed just three goals. That’s less than a goal per game, and with the B’s tandem in goal stopping all but three of the 109 shots they’ve faced, good for a .972 save percentage. The Swayman-Korpisalo tandem is also riding a shutout streak of over 145 minutes dating back to the second period of last Saturday’s 10-2 win over the Rangers.

“Best stat ever,” Swayman said following Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over the Red Wings.

Boston’s latest triumph came courtesy of what was a relentless attack established from the jump, with 40 shots peppered on Detroit netminder Cam Talbot.

The Bruins were forced to stick with it, too, as results did not come early. And did not come until the midway mark of the second period, as Pavel Zacha ripped a top-shelf snipe by Talbot with 9:01 remaining in the middle frame. The goal was Zacha’s fourth in the last three games, and with it being his 14th tally of the season, has him paced for what would be a career-high 25 goals this season.

“I’ve been told most of my career to shoot more,” Zacha admitted after Tuesday’s game. “I’m more of a passer myself, but sometimes when you play with great players, they’re giving you the puck and you’re more in the shooting areas than others.”

In the third, Fraser Minten tapped in a goal to finish a strong offensive-zone shift from Charlie McAvoy, while Mark Kastelic added the empty-net dagger with four minutes remaining in regulation.

For the Bruins, the victory was the club’s fourth straight, with the club once again trending in the right direction in what’s been an up-and-down year for the club from a consistency standpoint. After beginning their season on a three-game win streak, the Bruins lost six in a row. Then they won eight of nine, headlined by a seven-game win streak. December (somehow) featured a four-game win streak and a six-game losing streak, and things have gone in the other direction this month, with wins in four straight and six of seven dating back to New Year’s Eve. Whirlwind doesn’t even begin to describe it, really.

But that’s not something that’s unique to the Bruins, according to Marco Sturm.

“In general, I think we’re getting more confident now to stay at a good level, at a level we want to play,” Sturm said following Tuesday’s victory at TD Garden. I put more thoughts in the ups and downs. I also noticed there’s not too many teams who have gone stretches without it. It’s happened to more teams than you think. I went through all the teams and you would be very surprised. We are not the only ones.”

Up next, the Bruins will host the Kraken at TD Garden. But the big story in that one will come before the game, as the Bruins will officially raise Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 to the rafters and retire his number.