March 31marked the Boston Bruins’ 28th home win of the 2025-2026 season, defeating the Dallas Stars 6-3 at TD Garden.
Ending the month of March with a record of 10-3-3, the Bruins head into April on a four game win streak and maintaining the first wild card spot in the Eastern conference.
The B’s put up two goals in the first period and limited their opponents to five shots.
In the second period, the Stars fought back to tie the game with two even strength goals.
Entering the third period tied, the black and gold were hungry for the win against the third-best team in the league. 13 seconds into the third period, Bruin’s forward Elias Lindholm scored a power play goal to uplift the team. They went on to score three more goals in the third, securing the win.
Tuesday night’s game was also focused on celebrating Women In Sports Night, highlighting all female athletes, coaching staff, broadcasters, and fans. Some players from the PWHL’s Boston Fleet were in attendance, with star defender Megan Keller showing off her gold medal earned at this year’s winter olympics. When shown on the jumbotron, the athletes were met with cheers and applause bouncing off of the TD Garden walls.
With “Back in Black” by ACDC played over the loudspeakers, and yellow and white laser beams floating around the arena, the Bruins took the ice, with fans banging on the class and cheering. “The fans definitely didn’t come to play today,” said a Bruins fan who wished to remain anonymous. Even with a handful of green jerseys in the crowd, and those same fans chanting “STARS” during the national anthem, the black and gold were ready to secure the two points.
The Bruins’ starting lineup was Nikita Zadorov and Andrew Peeke at defense, Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm and newest addition to the roster at the trade deadline – Lukas Reichel at forward, with Joonas Korpisalo in net. Dallas Stars’ starting line up was Nils Lundkvist and Thomas Harley at defense, Colin Blackwell, Adam Erne and Justin Hyrckowian at forward, with Jake Oettinger in net.
Marat Khustnutdinov got the Bruins going early, scoring a wrist shot at 9:58 in the first period, capitalizing off of a rebounded shot.
At 18:51, Viktor Arvidsson doubled the score on a wrist shot, sneaking in behind goaltender Oettinger for the tap-in just as the Bruins’ man advantage ended. This marked Arvidsson’s 22nd goal of the season, and it was a special one. In the stands, his eldest daughter was celebrating her fifth birthday.
“I thought the whole game had really good energy,” said Bruins’ fan Andrea Martin. “Getting to see all the excitement from the crowd was awesome.”
At the start of the second period, it was evident the Dallas Stars flipped a switch. At 4:49, Stars’ captain Jamie Benn scored a wrist shot on the team’s ninth shot of the game, cutting the lead in half, 2-1.
A little over 12 minutes later, the Stars tied the game. At 16:53, forward Matt Duchene beat Korpisalo, sending the puck up over his right shoulder for his 15th goal of the season. With just under two minutes remaining in the second period, Benn lifted the puck up and over the glass with an immediate delay-of-game penalty called. The Bruins went on the man advantage ending in the second, and carried 18 seconds of the man-advantage into the third.
With five seconds left in the power play and 13 seconds into the third period, E. Lindholm’s wrist shot gave the Bruins the lead once more. He was fed a leading pass from David Pastrnak and shot the puck above Oettinger’s right shoulder. At 5:51, Bruins’ defensemen Henri Jokiharju took a slapshot from the center of the attacking zone and scored his first ever goal as a Bruin in his 39th appearance for the team.
“It was a welcomed surprise seeing Jokiharju score, it was exciting to see someone’s accomplishments firsthand,” said anonymous.
With less than five minutes to go, the Dallas Stars attempted to pull their goalie for an extra attacker, but it immediately backfired. Arvidsson quickly saw the empty net and fired from his defensive zone, picking up his second goal of the night. With a score of 5-2 Bruins, the Stars capitalized on a power play. Wyatt Johnston tightened the game at 19:02 with his 41st goal of the season, but it was too late for the Stars.
With Oettinger out of the net, the puck was dealt to Arvidsson’s stick once more. At 19:47, he shot home his 24th goal of the season, and completed his fifth career hat trick.
Hats came flying down to the ice and the crowd was louder than ever. “Nine goals and a hat trick – I’ll take that over any fights,” said Martin. “And Drake Maye was there.”
That’s right.
As the cameramen were perusing the crowd, a young man was shown sporting an “I heart Drake Maye” shirt. The camera remained on him for a suspicious amount of time, until it panned to Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and his wife Ann Michael Maye also at the game in support of the black and gold. The crowd went wild – fans were jumping out of their seats.
