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Rask, power play help Julien get 400th win as Bruins coach

New York Rangers v Boston Bruins

BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 05: Claude Julien, head coach of the Boston Bruins, reacts to an official’s call in the third period against New York Rangers at TD Garden on November 5, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

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The Boston Bruins only scored three power-play goals through 11 games so far in 2016-17. They doubled that total by scoring three on Monday alone.

Boston really might not have needed that many, either, as Tuukka Rask remained red-hot with a shutout in a 4-0 defeat of the Buffalo Sabres.

It wasn’t a cruise of a shutout, either, with Rask needing to make 32 stops for his second goose egg of the season. You can dice up Rask’s numbers in a variety of ways, but let’s keep it simple: he has a sparkling 7-1-0 record and great individual stats.

Nights like these from Rask (and Tim Thomas, among others) have greatly benefited head coach Claude Julien, who won his 400th game as Bruins head coach via this contest.

Even-strength scoring machines Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak connected on the man advantage, yet David Krejci’s power-play goal was likely the most important, big-picture-wise. Krejci finally scored his first goal of 2016-17 on a night where that happened more than once around the league.

He scored it with authority, too:

The Bruins are now 7-5-0 thanks to a stretch of four wins in five contests, and it’s not coincidence that Rask is heavily involved.

Now, if they can get that power play to produce more often, Julien’s wins totals will really start to climb.