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Third-period surge helps Bruins secure 6-0-0 homestand
By Kevin Paul Dupont
Globe Staff

Unsinkable, unstoppable, the Bruins on Saturday afternoon completed a perfect 6-0-0 homestand with a powerful 7-4 win over Chicago, piling up four goals in the final period and shredding the faded remains of the Blackhawk dynasty.

“The beauty of our team,’’ mused goalie Tuukka Rask, who improved his record to 28-11-4 with his 23 stops, “is that we do things together. And we decided after a few minutes in the third period that enough’s enough and we started playing our hockey, and it looked good.’’

After losing hold of a 2-0 lead in the first, and falling into deficits of 3-2 and 4-3 in the second, the Bruins poured it on like thick Vermont-made maple syrup in the third, collecting four goals — including strikes by Brian Gionta and Rick Nash during a four-minute power play — to shoo the Hawks out of the Garden.

Gionta, acquired at the trade deadline, now has an impressive 2-4—6 line in his five games in Black and Gold. David Krejci also added a pair of power-play goals, both on sweet feeds from linemate Jake DeBrusk, who finished with a career-high three assists.

For the homestand, which had the injured Patrice Bergeron hors de combat for all six games, the Bruins outscored the opposition, 30-19, and went an eye-popping 10 for 18 on the power play. They connected four times on the advantage vs. Chicago and added a Noel Acciari shorthander, leaving them with a better-than-Foxborough five scores from their special teams.

The last time the Bruins connected for five via special teams: March 10, 2001, when they potted five power-play goals in a 7-5 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers (now doing biz as the Winnipeg Jets).

One possible downside: The ever-interesting Brad Marchand ran afoul of the law with 9:45 gone in the first period with an awkward, high hit on Hawks right winger Anthony Duclair in Boston’s defensive zone. Duclair buckled, his right knee folding up, and had to be helped off the ice, while Marchand was tagged with a two-minute minor for interference.

The oft-suspended Marchand might hear, as early as Sunday morning, from the league’s Department of Player Safety, which in January tossed him for five games for his hit on New Jersey’s Marcus Johannson. DOPS also could let it slide, leaving Marchand assured of playing Sunday’s matinee rematch in Chicago.

“I expect they will, because it’s Brad,’’ said coach Bruce Cassidy, asked after the win if he expected DOPS to question his No. 1 left winger about the play. “But when I looked at the replay, it looked like two guys trying to getting hell out of the way from each other.’’

Marchand finished the day with a pair of assists and four shots on net for 20:17 in ice time. He improved his team scoring lead to 29-40—69. A call from DOPS would leave him at risk of being suspended, possibly for more than five games.

It was the only potential asterisk on a day when the Bruins struck for seven goals for a fourth time this season, including their season-high 8-4 shellacking of the Penguins on March 1. They are 4-13-3 in games they trail after two periods, as they did Saturday, with the Hawks moving to the 4-3 advantage in the second on Matthew Highmore’s first career goal.

The better team through two periods, Cassidy reminded his charges during the second intermission, was the Blackhawks.

“We talked about our will to win — how it’s been there,’’ said Cassidy. “This week, this homestand, the two weeks . . . and how it’s been there all year. I thought we had it in pockets, but theirs was greater than ours through two periods. We were OK, but that’s what the result was looking like — it would just be OK. The ball was in our court, if we wanted to push. And we did.’’

David Pastrnak, reminded by Cassidy two weeks ago to get to the net more, did just that on the 4-4 equalizer, driving the lane to pot a doorstep rebound off of Marchand’s laser shot from the left circle at 6:23.

The Blackhawks then folded up in the moments after Patrick Kane (one assist/five shots) got tagged with a four-minute high-sticking penalty, clipping Sean Kuraly in the face at 6:43.

The pesky Gionta, looking 10 years younger than his 39, popped home the winner at 8:02 with help from the ever-more-confident DeBrusk. Nash followed with the jawbreaker at 9:18, converting a Torey Krug shot from low on the right side.

Then came Kuraly, who earlier set up Acciari’s shorty with a steal, with the 7-4 empty-netter to close the show. Kuraly finished the day with a fight (John Hayden), a goal, and an assist, completing his Gordie Howe hat trick.

“Never saw him play, but know a lot about him,’’ said Kuraly, the center on the club’s Trench Connection Line with Tim Schaller and Acciari. “Everyone has been saying a Gordie Howe hat trick forever . . . I’ve known about that since I was five years old . . . always cool to see a guy get the Gordie.’’

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD.