Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask eyes the puck on a save during the third period of an hockey game against the Arizona Coyotes in Boston, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask eyes the puck on a save during the third period of an hockey game against the Arizona Coyotes in Boston, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Credit: ap — Charles Krupa

Boston — In a span of five minutes, the Boston Bruins turned a two-goal deficit into a two-goal lead.

David Krejci was just happy to be along for the ride.

Moving up to Boston’s top line to fill in for the injured Patrice Bergeron, Krejci assisted on three of Boston’s four goals during a second-period flurry that put away the Arizona Coyotes, 4-3, on Tuesday night.

Brad Marchand scored twice, and David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists for the Bruins — all during the five-minute span midway through the second.

“Those are two world-class players,” Krejci said. “They make lots of skilled plays, so they kind of make it easy for you. … I’ve just got to be at the right time at the right place, and the puck will find you.”

Arizona led 2-0 before Danton Heinen and Pastrnak scored 33 seconds apart. Marchand gave the Bruins the lead two minutes later, and then added another two minutes after that to make it 4-2.

Tuukka Rask stopped 30 shots for Boston, which beat the Coyotes for the 14th time in a row. The Bruins have won three in a row after snapping a three-game losing streak.

Nick Schmaltz and Nick Cousins scored 40 seconds apart for Arizona in the first period, and Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves for the Coyotes. Michael Bunting, who was making his NHL debut, scored an unassisted goal cut the deficit to 4-3 with 5 minutes left in the second.

The Coyotes had a shorthanded breakaway midway through the third period, but the Bruins got back to keep them from getting a shot off. Arizona also pulled the goalie with 75 seconds left but managed just one shot on net, as time expired.

Bruins forward David Backes rushed himself off the ice after taking a skate blade to the face in the first period. Backes was to the side of the net when he pushed Oliver Ekmann-Larsson aside and the Arizona defenseman went to the ice, kicking up his left skate on the way down.

It caught Backes in the face and he went down before skating on his own quickly to the Bruins bench and out the tunnel. He returned for — and won the opening faceoff to start the second period.

Capitals 6, Red Wings 2

Washington — Alex Ovechkin scored his 21st hat trick and first this season to lift Washington over Detroit.

Ovechkin entered the night as the NHL’s goal leader and stretched his total to 25 through 30 games, halfway to a potential eighth 50-goal season.

Canucks 3, Blue Jackets 2

Columbus, Ohio — Jake Virtanen scored the tiebreaking goal with less than two minutes remaining and Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 shots as Vancouver rallied to beat Columbus.

Elias Pettersson got credit for a goal that went in off his skate to tie it with about 3:04 left, and Virtanen’s goal put the Canucks ahead 78 seconds later.

Wild 7, Canadiens 1

St. Paul, Minn. — Matt Dumba scored twice, Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves and Minnesota took out some recent frustrations on Montreal.

The Wild scored four times in the second period to recover from a lousy swing through Western Canada, when Minnesota dropped two of three and lost captain Mikko Koivu to injury.

Jets 6, Blackhawks 3

Winnipeg, Manitoba — Kyle Connor scored twice and Winnipeg gave Chicago its eighth straight loss.

Mark Scheifele and Tyler Myers each had a goal and assist, Mathieu Perreault scored and Brandon Tanev added an empty-net goal for Winnipeg (19-9-2). Dustin Byfuglien had three assists.

Blues 4, Panthers 3

St. Louis — Brayden Schenn capped St. Louis’ four-goal third period as the Blues beat Florida.

Predators 3, Senators 1

Nashville, Tenn. — Ryan Ellis scored his first game-winning goal of the season, Pekka Rinne made 25 saves and Nashville defeated Ottawa.

Austin Watson and Craig Smith also scored for the Predators, who halted a two-game skid.

Maple Leafs 4, Hurricanes 1

Raleigh, n.c. — William Nylander had two assists and Morgan Rielly scored the go-ahead goal to lift Toronto over Carolina.

Sabres 4, Kings 3 (ot)

Buffalo, n.y. — Jeff Skinner scored a power-play goal 1:49 into overtime and Buffalo overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third period to beat Los Angeles.

Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist, and the Sabres snapped an 0-3-2 skid that immediately followed their franchise record-tying 10-game winning streak.

Johan Larsson and Zemgus Girgensons also scored for Buffalo, which improved to 6-7-2 when trailing through two periods. Linus Ullmark stopped 26 shots.

Jake Muzzin had a goal and an assist and Adrian Kempe and Matt Luff also scored for the Kings, who dropped to 2-5-1 in their past eight games.

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