Halak, Marchand push Bruins past Coyotes yet again

Brad Marchand's goal late in the first period stood as the winner as the Boston Bruin defeated the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night in the Coyotes' home opener in Glendale, Ariz. Marchand, coming off of four straight 30-goal seasons, tallied his first of the new campaign in the Bruins' second game at 18:41 of the first, when Patrice Bergeron fed him with a backhand pass off the boards in the Arizona zone.

The Bruins have wins in the first two games of a four-game Western Conference road trip to open the season. They got 35 saves from Jaroslav Halak in net, two days after Tuukka Rask stopped 28 Dallas Stars shots in a 2-1 win. The Coyotes are off to a slow start with only one total goal in their first two games, both losses. Arizona had chances but couldn't convert in front of a sellout crowd.

The Coyotes went 0-for-3 on the power play. Phil Kessel's shot from right in front was turned away by Halak with 8:46 to play in the game, and several late rushes and shots came up empty. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper kept the Coyotes close with 25 saves, including back-to-back stops on a David Pastrnak shot and on Marchand's rebound attempt in the second period.

Boston hasn't lost to Arizona since Oct. 9, 2010, a streak of 15 straight wins. Veteran defender Alex Goligoski of Arizona skated in his 800th career game, and Kessel tied Craig Ramsay at 776 games, the seventh-most played consecutively in NHL history.

The Coyotes activated goaltender Antti Raanta before the game, a day after Raanta made 19 saves in a game for the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League as part of his conditioning loan. Raanta, who missed all but 12 games last season with a lower-body injury, was on the bench Saturday.

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