Marat Khusnutdinov broke a third-period tie with a backhand goal, helping the Boston Bruins pull away for a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings struck on their opening shift just 31 seconds into the contest. Adrian Kempe and Brandt Clarke set up Alex Laferriere, who beat Jeremy Swayman with a wrist shot from the slot to give Los Angeles a 1-0 edge. Boston pulled even early in the second period when David Pastrnak gathered an unassisted puck and scored on a snap shot at 2:43.
Khusnutdinov gave the Bruins their first lead at 13:36 of the third period, converting a backhand shot off assists from Matthew Poitras and Morgan Geekie. Boston then closed out the victory with a pair of empty-net tallies. Elias Lindholm scored with 1:58 left, assisted by Khusnutdinov, before JJ Peterka finished another empty-net goal at 19:42 following passes from Pastrnak and Fraser Minten.
Swayman turned aside 25 of 26 shots to earn the victory for Boston, while Anton Forsberg made 24 saves on 26 shots in the loss. Neither team broke through on the power play, as the Bruins went 0 for 2 with the man advantage and the Kings also finished 0 for 2.
With the win, the Bruins extended their winning streak to five games and improved their record to 7-2-0 on the season. The Kings fell to 0-4-2, stretching their winless run to six straight games to open the campaign.
Both clubs return to the ice on Tuesday. The Bruins visit the Dallas Stars, while the Kings visit the Washington Capitals.
