Bruins beat Blackhawks, cap perfect homestand

A third-period flurry of goals allowed the Boston Bruins to complete a perfect homestand.

David Pastrnak, Brian Gionta, Rick Nash and Sean Kuraly all lit the lamp in the third to help the Bruins rally from a goal down to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-4 Saturday afternoon in Boston.

The win was the Bruins' sixth in a row during a dominant homestand in which they outscored opponents 30-19. Boston became only the seventh team in NHL history to win all six games on a homestand.

Pastrnak (24 goals) tied the game at 4 just 6:23 into the final period before Gionta (2) made it 5-4 at the 8:02 mark and Nash (21) provided some insurance 9:18 into the period. An empty-netter for Kuraly (6) with just over 21 seconds left sealed the result.

David Krejci (16) had two goals and Noel Acciari (8) also scored and Tuukka Rask made 23 saves for the Bruins.

Jonathan Toews (19), John Hayden (4), Erik Gustaffson (3) and Matthew Highmore (1) each had a goal for the Blackhawks, who dropped their second straight and fell to 2-4-0 in March after a dismal 3-9-1 month in February.

J-F Berube made 33 stops in net for Chicago.

The Blackhawks and Bruins complete their home-and-home series Sunday in Chicago. It's the first of a stretch of eight out of nine games on the road for Boston, while Chicago is making a quick pitstop at home before two on the road.

Patrice Bergeron (fractured right foot) and Charlie McAvoy (sprained left MCL) both missed the game for Boston.

Noel Acciari's shorthanded goal off a rebound of Sean Kuraly's shot opened the scoring with 8:33 to play in the first period. Chicago challenged the call for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld.

Krejci's first goal on a power play doubled the Bruins' lead with 5:50 left in the first.

Gustaffson had a hand in both of the Blackhawks' next two goals to tie it at 2 through 20 minutes, as Toews redirected his shot past Rask with 5:33 to go before he beat Rask himself on a one-timer with 5:04 on the clock.

Hayden put Chicago up 3-2 on his close-range wrister with 13:23 to play in the second before Krejci tied it with his second power-play goal on a wrister with 9:55 to go in the period.

Highmore scored his first NHL goal on a wrister with 4:14 remaining in the second to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 edge entering the third.

--Field Level Media