Bruins Beat Kings for Their 30th Victory of the Season

The Boston Bruins led the NHL with 29 wins this season going into games of January 5th. They’ve been nearly unstoppable at home (19-0-3) and were 10-4-1 on the road when they played the Kings in Los Angeles on January 5th. The Kings were a good road test for the Bruins; L.A. was 22-13-6 (50 points) and second in the Pacific Division and third overall in the Western Conference.

Trent Frederic and David Pastrnak scored a pair of goals each and Brad Marchand scored one and the Bruins overcame an initial 1-0 Los Angeles lead to pick a 5-2 victory. It was the 30th win of the season for Boston in just 38 games. Backup goalie Jeremy Swayman got the start and made 27 saves; his record improves to 8-3-3. Linus Ullman, the #1 goalie, has been a big part of the success of the Bruins this season, with an incredible 21-1-1 record and 1.86 goals against average. That old saying about defense winning championships does have some basis in facts; Boston has only allowed 85 goals in 38 games this season, the fewest in the league, while scoring 145. The difference of +60 is twice the number of the #2 team in this category. The Dallas Stars are at +30.

The Bruins continue their three game West Coast road trip with games at San Jose on January 7th and at Anaheim January 8th before returning home to host Seattle on January 12th.