Bruins keep on rolling, double up Stars behind veteran forward's hat trick

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Mar 31, 2026

Published in Hockey

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BOSTON — The Boston Bruins do not have a playoff berth secured just yet, but they are starting to smell it.

A week ago, the B’s had lost a disheartening game at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs and on the horizon was a daunting run of four straight tough opponents — Buffalo, Minnesota, Columbus and, on Tuesday night, the Dallas Stars. But they were able to knock them all off, completing the sweep with a 6-3 win over the Stars at TD Garden. Viktor Arvidsson had a hat trick (two empty-netters) and David Pastrnak notched three assists.

Joonas Korpisalo made 13 saves in the victory.

The B’s built a 2-0 lead in the first period, lost it in the second period and scored three unanswered goals in the third period for their fourth straight win.

The B’s now head out on the road for a four-game road trip that begins against the Panthers on Thursday and then goes on to Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and Carolina.

It could be a tough trip but, all of a sudden, nothing seems too difficult for this team. With the win over the Stars, they earned a split against the Central Division’s Big Three, winning the home games against Avalanche, Wild and now the Stars.

Much like they did against Minnesota last Saturday, the B’s enjoyed a strong first period and took a 2-0 lead into the first break.

They had to kill the first penalty of the game, a textbook interference from Nikita Zadorov on Jamie Benn, but they did not allow the league’s second best power play a shot on net during the kill.

Shortly after the B’s got back to full strength, Marat Khusnutdinov scored his 15th of the season at 9:59. Henri Jokiharju shot the puck into a crowd, Khusnutdinov got a room-service bounce and beat Jake Oettinger from the inside of the left circle.

The B’s got their first power play late in the period when Jason Robertson tripped Arvidsson in the neutral zone. The B’s scored two seconds after Robertson got out of the box and it was Arvidsson who did the honors. A pass into the slot area was thwarted but David Pastrnak chased it down and centered it to Arvidsson for the redirection from the crease. It was the veteran’s 22nd of the year and added to mountain of evidence that he might not be a bad re-signing.

Joonas Korpisalo, meanwhile, had to make a a couple decent saves but he wasn’t overly taxed in the opening 20 minutes.

The B’s held a 9-5 shot advantage in the first.

The Stars, however, announced their arrival into the contest at 4:49 of the second on an impressive play by Benn. The long-time Star spun off Charlie McAvoy and muscled his way out of the corner. He passed it to Wyatt Johnston, whose shot Korpisalo stopped but the rebound came back to Benn and he slipped it home.

The Stars, who have the second-best goals against average (2.69), tightened up considerable after that. And they had a great chance to even the game with about 5:30 left in the second. Robertson, one of the two 40-goal scorers on Dallas, got a clean breakaway off a Bruin turnover in the neutral zone but Korpisalo stoned him on his original shot and his follow-up.

But Dallas did tie it up at 16:53. With a crowd behind the Bruin net, Zadorov tried to get the puck to his partner Andrew Peeke but it didn’t get through. From the side of the net, Matt Duchene pulled the puck out front and beat Korpisalo with an in-tight flip.

The B’s had a chance to regain the lead when they got a power play late in the period. Their best chance was a Pavel Zacha tip that went just wide but, after that opportunity, they got too pass happy and could not capitalize.

But there was some change left on the PP to start the second period and they immediately showed a shot mentality. Jonathan Aspirot began a rush from his own zone and sent pass up to David Pastrnak in the middle of the ice. Pastrnak tipped a pass over to Elias Lindholm speeding up the right wing. From the top of the circle, Lindholm ripped his 17th goal past Oettinger over the blocker on a pure snipe just 13 seconds into the period.

Then at 5:51, the B’s earned their two-goal lead back, with the goal coming from a highly unlikely source.

A loose puck squirted out to the high slot and Jokiharju, who had not scored a goal since being acquired by the B’s at the trade deadline last season, snapped it past Oettinger to make it 4-2.

Then with 3:37 left, Arvidsson ended it with an empty-netter.

Wyatt Johnston scored on the power play with 58 seconds remaining, but Arvidsson removed any doubt by securing the hat trick into the empty net with 12 seconds left.

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