Bruins-Flyers takeaways: Tuukka Rask's return is a success

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The Boston Bruins earned their fourth straight win on Thursday night as they topped the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2. It also marked their seventh win in their last eight games.

Tuukka Rask's much-anticipated return was the story as the Bruins goaltender made his first start in net since June. He earned the victory thanks in large part to David Pastrnak, who scored all three of Boston's goals.

Marchand's dominant scoring run taking B's to new heights in 2022

Here are three quick takeaways from the Bruins' win as they improve to 21-11-2 on the campaign. Up next is a meeting with the Nashville Predators Saturday at TD Garden.

A solid return for Tuukka Rask

Rask returned in front of an excited TD Garden crowd after rejoining the B's on a one-year, $1 million deal. The veteran netminder had surgery during the offseason to repair a torn labrum in his hip and hadn't played since the team's playoff series loss to the New York Islanders.

There were some signs of rust, but overall Rask looked like himself in Thursday's win. Pastrnak took most of the pressure off him early with two goals before Rask even made his first save 9:19 into the game. The 34-year-old ended up with a clean first period, but he let up a pair of Flyers goals in the second.

Rask began to find his groove with a pair of highlight-reel breakaway stops. The second was a beauty of a save on Cam Atkinson.

Rask shook off the rust with 25 saves on 27 shots, 12 of those saves coming in the third period. It was an encouraging performance and one he'll look to build off of as Boston continues its ascent up the Eastern Conference standings.

David Pastrnak carries Bruins offense

The Bruins offense has been firing on all cylinders as of late. But in Thursday night's win, David Pastrnak was the Bruins offense.

Pastrnak tallied all three of Boston's goals as he notched the 11th hat trick of his NHL career. His feat comes one night after Brad Marchand completed a hat trick in the B's win over Montreal.

Pasta quickly got the B's on the board 1:51 into the game.

His second goal came shortly thereafter on a beautiful assist from Marchand.

Pastrnak completed the hat trick 16:45 into the second period.

The Bruins star now has seven goals in his last six games. Boston has scored at least three goals in seven of its eight games this month.

Welcome aboard, Tyler Lewington

Lewington made his Bruins debut with the team's defensive corps shorthanded due to COVID-19 and injuries. It was his 11th career NHL game, and he wasted no time making his presence felt.

The 27-year-old sparked a brief scuffle early in the contest and it didn't take long after that for him to drop the gloves. Lewington and Flyers forward Zack MacEwan threw some haymakers early in the second period.

That's certainly one way to leave your mark.

Lewington logged 12:23 of ice time in his first NHL appearance of the campaign. He became the 1,012th player to appear in an NHL game this season, breaking the previous record set in 2020-21.

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