CHICAGO — Center Patrice Bergeron scored his 200th career goal and notched two assists, and the Boston Bruins cruised to a 6-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.
Right winger Reilly Smith added a goal and an assist for Boston, which set a season-high for goals. The Bruins (29-21-9) snapped a six-game winless skid with their first victory since Feb. 7.
Center Jonathan Toews and left winger Bryan Bickell scored for Chicago. The four-goal losing margin matched the most lopsided defeat of the season for the Blackhawks (35-20-5).
The Bruins pulled away with four goals in the second period by left winger Milan Lucic, center Gregory Campbell, defenseman Dougie Hamilton and Smith. Along with Bergeron, right winger Loui Eriksson scored in the first period.
Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask stopped 26 of 28 shots to improve to 24-15-9.
Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford allowed four goals on 14 shots before he was replaced with 7:41 remaining in the second period. Goaltender Antti Raanta stopped 14 of 16 shots in relief.
Bergeron gave Boston a 1-0 lead three minutes after the opening faceoff. Smith spun past Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith and flipped a backhand pass to Bergeron, who buried a one-timer from the left of the crease.
Boston increased its lead to 2-0 on a power-play goal by Eriksson with 5:57 remaining in the first period. Eriksson redirected a shot from the left circle by defenseman Torey Krug for his 14th goal.
The Blackhawks trimmed the deficit to 2-1 when right winger Patrick Kane found Toews for a power-play goal with 1.4 seconds remaining in the period.
Lucic extended Boston’s lead to 3-1 when he punched a shot past Crawford with 13:42 to go in the second period.
Campbell scored six minutes later to make it 4-1, prompting Crawford’s early exit.
Hamilton gave the Bruins a 5-1 lead on a wrist shot with 2:33 left in the second period. Smith added a goal with 3.1 seconds remaining in the second period to increase Boston’s lead to 6-1.
Bickell capped the scoring with 5:42 remaining in the third period.