Marat Wins It Late as Bruins Take Down the Kings 4-1 for Five Straight

By Soapz · Oct 18, 2026

Five. In. A. Row. B's fans, if you stayed up for a 9 p.m. puck drop out in Los Angeles on Saturday night, you got paid off with a late-game classic. The Bruins were tied 1-1 with under seven minutes to go, and then Marat Khusnutdinov did what he's quietly been doing all season: show up when nobody's looking and make the play that wins the game. Boston beat the Kings 4-1 at Crypto.com Arena, and the winning streak is now five games long.

That puts the Black and Gold at 7-2-0, and it means the West Coast swing is three-for-three so far, with San Jose, Anaheim and now L.A. all in the win column. And this was the second night of a back-to-back, after that comeback in Anaheim on Friday. Tired legs, a rough start and a hot goalie on the other end, and they still found a way. That's what good teams do.

So kick your feet up and let's walk through it. Period by period, with the goals right next to the plays, and then a few thoughts on why this one felt bigger than a regular Saturday in October.

First period: a 31-second wake-up call

Let's get the bad part out of the way, because it came fast. Just 31 seconds into the game, Alex Laferriere beat Swayman with a wrist shot, with Adrian Kempe and Brandt Clarke on the helpers. Second game in two nights, everybody still finding their legs, and boom, you're chasing before you've even broken a sweat.

The good news is that Sway didn't let it rattle him one bit. After that first one, he was calm, square and patient for the rest of the period, and the Kings didn't get anything else past him. The Bruins slowly started finding their game, getting pucks deep and making L.A. defend for longer stretches.

And then the period ended with some fireworks. At 19:04, Mark Kastelic and the Kings' Samuel Helenius dropped the gloves, and both went off for five minutes. You know Kas. He's not going to let the room get flat on the second night of a back-to-back. Then 37 seconds later, Clarke went to the box for cross-checking Hampus Lindholm, and Boston carried a power play into the second period. It didn't turn into a goal, but the energy on the bench changed right there.

Second period: Pasta answers

It didn't take long for the captain to get things even. At 2:43 of the second, David Pastrnak got loose and ripped a snap shot past Anton Forsberg, all by himself with no assists on the play. 1-1. It was his fourth goal of the year, and it was the kind of shot only a handful of guys in the world can get off that quickly.

From there, the middle period turned into a chess match. Clarke took his second penalty of the night at 6:29, an interference call after he got tangled up with Khusnutdinov, but the Kings killed it. Frederic Brunet went off for interference at 10:58, and the Bruins' penalty kill stepped up and handled it without much trouble. The two teams traded looks, the two goalies traded saves, and we went to the second intermission still knotted at one.

Honestly, the second period was the story of the whole road trip. It wasn't flashy, and it wasn't pretty, but the Bruins were patient. They didn't cheat for offense, they didn't get frustrated, and they stayed in it, trusting that they'd get their chance in the third.

Third period: 92 takes over

The third had the feel of a game that would be decided by one mistake or one bounce. Hampus Lindholm went off for hooking at 7:11, and the penalty kill had to come up big again. It did. That kill was huge, because if the Kings score there, it's a totally different night.

And then came the moment. At 13:36 of the third, Matthew Poitras and Morgan Geekie worked the puck toward the net, Forsberg couldn't quite control the rebound, and Khusnutdinov was right there to clean it up on the backhand. 2-1 Bruins. It was his second goal of the season, it held up as the game-winner, and the bench absolutely lost it. Some guys score pretty goals. Marat scores the ones that matter.

L.A. got a power play at 17:09 when Borgen was called for interference, but Joel Armia went off for embellishment on the same play, so it ended up 4-on-4. Erik Haula got a 10-minute misconduct a few seconds later, and you could tell the Kings were getting a little frustrated. They pulled Forsberg for the extra attacker with about two and a half minutes left, and the Bruins made them pay.

At 18:02, Khusnutdinov found Elias Lindholm with McAvoy getting the second assist, and Lindholm hit the empty net to make it 3-1. That's Marat with a goal and an assist in the final seven minutes of a tie game. Then with 18 seconds left, Pastrnak and Fraser Minten set up JJ Peterka for another empty-netter, and that was the ballgame. 4-1, Bruins.

Sway was the backbone

We have to give Jeremy Swayman his flowers here. After giving up that goal 31 seconds into the game, he stopped 25 straight shots. He made the saves he was supposed to make, he made a couple he wasn't, and he never gave the Kings the second goal they needed to really put the pressure on. On the second half of a back-to-back, with the skaters running on fumes for long stretches, that's exactly what you need from your guy.

The Kings had their looks, too. Artemi Panarin had three shots and over 24 minutes of ice time. Joel Edmundson led L.A. with five shots from the back end. But nothing got through, and that's the difference between a 2-1 loss and a 4-1 win.

The defense did the dirty work

The blue line deserves a shoutout too. McAvoy led the team at 25:55 and blocked four shots. Jonathan Aspirot had four hits and three blocks. Mason Lohrei put three shots on net and blocked three more. Borgen was a wrecking ball with six hits. And Hampus Lindholm and McAvoy were both plus-3, which tells you how much the top pair controlled things when it mattered.

Up front, Minten blocked three shots of his own while logging over 20 minutes, and Sean Kuraly won 83% of his faceoffs. These are the little things that never make the highlight reel but win you games on the road in October.

Let's talk about Marat

We've been banging the drum for Khusnutdinov for a while now, and nights like this are exactly why. He played just 11:07, and he made every minute count. He drew a penalty in the second, he scored the go-ahead goal and he set up the insurance goal. First star of the game, and well earned.

He's settled in as a real middle-six forward on this team, a guy who can play with skill players or grind with checkers and not look out of place either way. He's quick, he's always around the puck, and he has a knack for being in the right spot around the net. Five-game winning streaks need more than just your stars, and Marat has been one of the reasons this team can roll four lines without worrying.

The captain keeps cooking

Pastrnak had a goal and an assist for his second straight multi-point night, and he was the second star of the game. That's four goals and eight assists through nine games for the captain. He was flying all night, he played almost 21 minutes, and his goal was the one that settled everybody down after that rough opening minute. When he's on like this, everything else gets easier for the guys around him.

Looking ahead: Dallas on Tuesday

After the back-to-back, the Bruins get a couple days to breathe before the final stop of the trip, Tuesday night in Dallas at 8 p.m. ET on NESN. The Stars are a heavy, deep team with a lot of firepower, and Mikko Rantanen can wreck a game all by himself, so this will be a real test. Win that one, and this trip goes from good to great.

Things to watch: Can the streak hit six? Does Sway stay in net after this one? Can the power play find its groove again after going 0-for-2 on Saturday? And can the kids keep pushing, after Hagens, Poitras and Brunet were so big in Anaheim?

Our takeaways

Marat is a gamer. A goal and an assist in the last seven minutes of a tie game, and the first star. Sway was a wall. 25 straight saves after a bad bounce in the first minute. The penalty kill keeps delivering. Two more kills on Saturday, including a big one in the third. This team doesn't panic. Down early again on the road, and once again they stayed calm and took the game over late.

Five in a row and 7-2-0. Let's go get Dallas, B's fans. 🐻

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