BOSTON — David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist for the Boston Bruins in a 3-1 win against the Dallas Stars at TD Garden on Tuesday.
Taylor Hall scored for the third straight game, and Linus Ullmark made 30 saves for Boston (6-1-0), which has won the first three of a four-game homestand.
“We’re finding different ways to win every night,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “I didn’t think tonight was a very good offensive game for us. I thought there were plays to be made that even our elite offensive players weren’t seeing, but our checking is really improving, and we won with defense, and, of course, Linus was really good in net again tonight.”
Wyatt Johnston scored, and Jake Oettinger made 26 saves for Dallas (4-2-1), which lost at the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Monday.
“Back to back, tough situation. I thought we came out and played a real tough road game,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think they found a way to get a power-play goal, we didn’t. They got a bounce in front of the net off a leg, we didn’t, but I thought we played hard. We played a better game than we did in Ottawa in a back to back against a good team, so, you know, there’s some positives there.”
Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen (upper body) was a late scratch. He was replaced by Joel Hanley, who had two shots in 12:14 in his season debut. DeBoer said Heiskanen is day to day and will be reevaluated when they return to Dallas.
“Tough loss with Miro, but we have six others [defensemen] that are here who are going to step in and get some more minutes,” said Nils Lundkvist, who played 22:04 after averaging 17:07 in five games this season. “He’s obviously almost a top five defenseman in this league, so tough loss, but you know, [we] tried our best, and I think we played a pretty solid game.”
Video: DAL@BOS: Pastrnak rips the one-timer for PPG in the 1st
Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 12:49 of the first period with a one-timer from the left circle on the power play.
“I got a good touch on it, got all of it,” Pastrnak said. “It obviously feels nice to hit it. Could be a couple inches up, and could be out of the zone, so obviously I take the goal.”
Johnston tied it 1-1 at 1:48 of the second period. Ty Dellandrea fell while retrieving the puck behind the Bruins net but managed to connect with a wide-open Johnston on the doorstep.
“It was a pretty crazy play by him,” Johnston said. “I just had to sit there and just tap it into the wide-open net, so he definitely worked hard to set that one up, and I didn’t really expect him to kind of get it there.”
Hall made it 2-1 at 18:57 on a slap shot from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Pastrnak. The puck initially appeared to have gone in off the skate of the Bruins forward David Krejcibut a video review determined it went off the skate of Stars defenseman Ryan Suter.
“We were right there and they got a lucky bounce, and that’s what cost us the game,” Oettinger said. “Could have very easily gone that way for us too, so I’m most proud of the way the guys played.”
Video: DAL@BOS: Pastrnak, Hall combine for goal in the 2nd
Patrice Bergeron scored an empty-net goal with 27 seconds left in the third period for the 3-1 final.
“They played really well considering their schedule, and we have to close those games out no matter what happened through the first 57-58 minutes,” Hall said. “It’s important to close that out, and a team like ours that has the structure that we have and the defensive players that we have, that’s why we’re sitting with a solid record right now.”
NOTES: Johnston, 19, scored for a second straight game. He became the third teenager with a multigame goal streak for the Stars since they relocated to Dallas for the 1993-94 season (Valeri Nichushkin, two games, 2013-14; Heiskanen, two goals twice, 2018-19). … Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo had one shot and blocked two shots in 18:29 after missing four games with a concussion. … Pastrnak scored the first goal of a game for the 55th time to tie Brad Marchand for the most among Bruins players since he entered the NHL in 2014-15. … The Bruins are 5-0-0 at home. Their record to start a season is eight wins in 1983-84. They also won their first six games in 1985-86 and 1976-77. … Stars forward Joel Kiviranta played his 100th NHL game.
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