BOSTON — David Backes scored his first two goals of the season, helping the Boston Bruins beat the Arizona Coyotes 6-1 on Thursday night.
It was Backes' fourth game back after he missed 12 straight following surgery to remove part of his colon. The veteran forward scored his first goal with Boston on a tip-in 13:54 into the second period and then added another goal with 54 seconds left in the period.
Brad Marchand scored 15 seconds into the game for the Bruins, who won for the seventh time in nine games. David Krejci, Danton Heinen and Anders Bjork also scored, and Tuukka Rask made 20 saves.
Christian Dvorak had an unassisted goal for Arizona, and Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves.
Backes, the former St. Louis captain who signed with Boston as an unrestricted free agent in July, was expected to miss up to eight weeks following his surgery on Nov. 2 to relieve inflammation caused by diverticulitis. He returned to the Bruins on Nov. 29 and got his 500th career point Monday with an assist during a loss at Nashville.
Backes deflected in Riley Nash's wrist shot from the blue line at to break a 1-all tie with 6:06 left in the second. He also stole the puck from Alex Goligoski inside the Arizona zone and beat Wedgewood with a wrist shot at 19:06.
Krecji's power-play goal in the opening minute of the third put Boston up 4-1 just 15 seconds after Luke Schenn was called for hooking.
The Bruins struck first when Marchand scored on a one-timer off a crossing pass from David Pastrnak. But Dvorak tied it with a high backhand with 2:53 left in the first after stealing a clearing attempt by Brandon Carlo.
NOTES: Arizona D Kyle Capobianco, called up Monday from Tucson of the American Hockey League, made his NHL debut. ... Dvorak's goal was his first in 10 games. ... RW Jacob DeBrusk returned to the Bruins after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: Continue a four-game road trip Saturday at Columbus.
Bruins: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Doug Alden, The Associated Press