Bruins burn Flames with home cooking in 4-1 victory

The last time the Bruins were seen on Causeway Street, they were heading into Christmas humbled after getting walloped in back-to-back games by Ottawa and Montreal. Those two losses were part of a disappointing 1-3-1 homestand that put a dent in their previous home-ice dominance and put them in arrears in their chase for a playoff spot.

On Thursday, the B’s found at least some of their home mojo back with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at the Garden. The B’s got goals from four different players and, perhaps most importantly, they received a good 28-save performance from backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo. The B’s had been leaning heavily on Jeremy Swayman lately and the work began to show in the B’s loss to the Kraken on Tuesday.

The B’s, for the most part, stayed out of the box, giving the Flames only two power plays as they improved to 13-8-1 at home. With the next four games on Garden ice, they’ll want to build on that if they want to keep pace in the Eastern Conference.

The first game back home from a West Coast trip is usually a scheduled ‘L.’ But with the way the B’s lost their trip finale in Seattle in such a self-inflicted manner, it wasn’t a big surprise that they came out with a good focus in the first period and took a 2-0 lead into the first break.

“As a group, we knew tonight was really important for us,” said Sean Kuraly, who had a goal and an assist. “We weren’t happy with how (the road trip) ended. We felt we gave away two points in Seattle and we wanted to get them back tonight. We focused to try and stay out of the box tonight and we were better at that. We know the recipe going forward. We’ve just got to stick to it.”

Both first period goals came off the rush.

Kuraly put the B’s on the board with his fourth of the year at 9:48. Charlie McAvoy moved the puck up along the right boards to Tanner Jeannot, who gained the zone and dropped a bank pass off the boards for Kuraly. With all sorts of room in the middle of the ice, Kuraly cut into the high slot and beat Dustin Wolf with a wrister.

Elias Lindholm made it 2-0 at 12:06. David Pastrnak fed Marat Khusnutdinov and, after gaining the zone, he made what looked like an ill-advised drop pass to Pastrnak. But just when it looked like a Calgary defender was going to get to it first, Pastrnak made a quick one-time pass over to Lindholm, who in turn one-timed his eighth goal of the year into a wide-open net.

The B’s came out strong again in the second period and threw some high-end pressure on Wolf. The netminder made several good stops, including a terrific save on Mark Kastelic on what looked like a sure goal.

Eventually, the B’s got arm-weary and the Flames started to push back. That’s when Korpisalo, who had not won since Dec. 11 and had gotten only two starts since then, picked up the slack. He was forced to make a handful of high-danger saves to keep it at a two-goal bulge for the B’s. He would later make his save of the night on Mikael Backlund in the slot, snaring the centerman’s wrister with flare.

“There’s always moments where you need a save, a timely save. Today I made a couple of those. I’m happy,” said Korpisalo.

Finally, the B’s were able to get that elusive third goal at 14:02. On a terrific shift in the offensive zone, the B’s continually forced turnovers until Kuraly fed Mason Lohrei up high. Lohrei made a nice toe drag into the middle of the ice and beat Wolf with a snap shot, his fourth of the year, as Viktor Arvidsson cut across the top of the crease.

Casey Mittelstadt then gave the B’s a commanding 4-0 lead at 17:59, following up a rebound of his own shot and slipping it up into the top shelf for his 10th of the year.

But the B’s could not get out of the period unscathed. With 1:16 left in the period, Connor Zary was allowed to step out in front of the net and beat Korpisalo with a roof shot to pull the game somewhat within reach going into the third.

“He was awesome and I just told him he deserved better,” said Kuraly. “We talked about it in intermission about how our line was out there for the goal (against) and when the goalie’s playing so well, you just want to keep it out of the net for him. He was a major piece on why we won that game.”

That’s as close as the Flames would get, however, as the B’s cruised to the win in the third. Next up are the Rangers in a Saturday matinee.