Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Takeaways from Bruins' win at Dallas

The Boston Bruins came away with a highly entertaining 3-1 victory over the Dallas Stars Tuesday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

The Bruins needed a strong effort after dropping an embarrassing 3-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday at TD Garden.

Against the Stars, the Bruins received goals from Loui Eriksson, Gregory Campbell and Dougie Hamilton.

Boston has one more game before the All-Star break when they face the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday in Denver.

No. 1 being No. 1: Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask continued his strong play of late and finished with 36 saves against the Stars. He's 8-1-3 in his last 12 starts. As solid as he was against Dallas, he also received some help from his friend, the post, as the Stars rang a few shots off the iron. If the Bruins can continue to climb the standings, it will be Rask who gets them there.

Shut down: The Bruins' penalty-killing unit has been outstanding of late, and it stifled Dallas' power play Tuesday. Boston was a perfect 6-for-6 on the PK as the Stars generated 16 shots during their man-advantages. The Bruins were able to shut down passing lanes and block shots, keeping Dallas to the perimeter on most of its chances. The Bruins are 32-for-34 on the PK this month.

Chemistry 101: Boston's third line of Chris Kelly, Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson has been the team's most consistent trio for the majority of the season. That line has been playing extremely well of late and is showing its strong chemistry. That was evident on the Bruins' first goal of the game to tie it at 1-1. The line used incredible puck movement that resulted in Eriksson's goal at 14:17 of the second period.

Not tonight: The Stars' Tyler Seguin is atop the league with 28 goals this season, but his former team held him scoreless. He did, however, register seven shots, hit a post and shot a quality scoring chance wide of the net midway through the third period.

Necessary tweaks: With the Bruins holding a 2-1 lead late in the second period, Bruins coach Claude Julien shortened his bench and tweaked his lines. He replaced rookie David Pastrnak on the top line with Reilly Smith. Things went back to normal to start the third period, but the coach did the same in the waning minutes to secure the win.

Chipping in: The Bruins are successful when they get contributions from all four lines. That was the case against the Stars as Boston's fourth line produced the game-winning goal when Campbell scored at 18:27 of the second period to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead. It was Campbell's fifth goal of the season.

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