Zacha scores twice, Bruins cruise past Blues

Pavel Zacha scored twice for the Boston Bruins in a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday.

Morgan Geekie had a goal and two assists, Alex Steeves and Viktor Arvidsson each had a goal and an assist, and Elias Lindholm had three assists for the Bruins (16-13-0), who have alternated wins and losses in their past eight games (4-4-0). Mason Lohrei had two assists, and Joonas Korpisalo made 37 saves.

“We had kind of a mentality to start off on the right foot tonight,” Geekie said. “I feel like the last few we’ve been a little slow. Just come out of the gates hot, use the crowd to our advantage, and I thought we did that tonight.”

Pavel Buchnevich and Pius Suter scored for the Blues (9-12-7), who have scored two or fewer goals in nine of their past 10 games (3-4-3).

“The Bruins were really good and we weren’t,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “... (We had) poor reloads, poor gaps. ... It’s an effort thing. It’s a simple thing to fix.

“I think Jordan Binnington was one of our better players tonight. If it wasn’t for him, it could have been a lot worse.”

Binnington made 22 saves for the Blues. He got the start after being pulled in the first period of a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, when he allowed two goals on five shots.

"I think it’s my job to just focus on myself, and I think there’s areas tonight where I wasn’t good enough and times where I was good enough in an opportunity to come back strong after a tough game last game," Binnington said. "That’s on me. That’s my job.

"That’s two tough games. I think there were some good games before that. I think it’s just staying with it, just preparing each day, like approaching each game the same and doing your best. I know how that goes. So, just believing in yourself and finding that inner belief on a consistent basis, and I think I’ll be all right and we’ll be all right."

Steeves gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 6:30 of the first period. Following a bad line change by the Blues, Geekie skated in all alone down the left wing before passing across to Steeves for a one-timer from low in the right circle.

“It’s nice playing with world-class players up and down the lineup,” Steeves said. “To be honest, a little bit of learning but also trusting my abilities and having the confidence to get to the right areas. But goal-scoring is part of my identity. I love it. You can probably see it with my celebrations. It’s a big release for me and it’s been really fun, but credit goes to linemates, coaching staff for putting me in really good positions.”

Geekie made it 2-0 at 11:25. Steeves won a wall battle below the goal line with Blues defensemen Colton Parayko and Philip Broberg, resulting in the puck popping out to Lindholm, who found Geekie in the low slot for another one-timer.

“There was a loose puck and I just tried to go in there and grab the loose puck,” Parayko said. “I think [Broberg] lost his blade on the play and they ended up coming up with it. They made a pass to the guy in the slot, he was open and put it in.”

Buchnevich cut it to 2-1 at 1:59 of the second period. Parayko intercepted the puck along the right boards, curled around the net and found Buchnevich in the left circle for a one-timer.

Arvidsson responded to make it 3-1 at 6:04. Binnington steered aside a soft shot from Lohrei, but Arvidsson skated into the rebound near the right wall and beat the Blues goalie over his left shoulder with a slap shot.

“It bounced off the wall, too,” Arvidsson said. “I saw some guys going to the net, so I figured I’d try and shoot it. I hit it pretty clean, so it was nice to see it go in.

“It’s always nice to get a goal. I think as a line we had a little bit better game this game than in Detroit (a 5-4 loss to the Red Wings on Tuesday). We’ll just move on from there and try to be even better the next game.”

Zacha pushed it to 4-1 at 12:26, cutting toward the high slot between two Blues defenders and roofing a shot over Binnington's glove.

Zacha scored his second on a power play with 0.2 seconds remaining in the period. Lindholm collected a rebound near the left post and passed across the crease to Zacha, who buried the puck into the open net to make it 5-1.

"I looked up and [the clock] was zero, so I wasn’t sure,” Zacha said. “But when we were skating by the bench they were telling me it was in. That felt good. Especially at the end of the period, that kind of puts teams down going into the locker room. I was happy that one went in.”

Suter made it 5-2 at 9:07 of the third period. Korpisalo made a highlight-reel save with his right pad on Dylan Holloway, but the Blues forward got the rebound right back, circled the net, and passed out front to Suter.

NOTES: Arvidsson’s goal was his 400th NHL point and his assist was his 200th. ... Steeves has scored five goals in his past five games. ... Boston defenseman Victor Soderstrom was plus-2 in 13:40 of ice time in his first NHL game since March 10, 2024. He was recalled on an emergency basis from Providence of the American Hockey League earlier Thursday. ... Suter was plus-1 in 15:19 after missing two games with a lower-body injury. ... Blues forward Aleksanteri Kaskimaki was minus-1 in 15:17 in his NHL debut.