Boston Bruins continue mastery of Arizona Coyotes

BOSTON -- Bruce Cassidy is still the interim coach of the Boston Bruins, but it could be just a matter of time before the "interim" part of his title is removed.

Cassidy's Bruins are 7-1 since he took over for the fired Claude Julien, cruising to a 4-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes in the teams' final game before the trade deadline Tuesday night.

"I see a group that's confident. I see a group that's resilient. We need to keep building on that," Cassidy said after the Bruins scored three times in the second period to break open a 1-1 game.

Seven wins in eight games. Four straight at home, their first four-game home winning streak since November, 2014 The most important Bruins are all playing well. The team is healthy. It all adds up to Boston looking more and more like a team that will end its two-year playoff drought.

"I want the guys to make sure that they play confident hockey and believe in themselves," Cassidy said. "We want to set a standard."

Arizona's Alexander Burmistrov was removed from the ice on a stretcher after receiving a high hit by Bruins defenseman Colin Miller in the second period.

As the stretcher left the ice, the veteran gave two thumbs up and the crowd cheered. He was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. Later in the evening, he took to social media and let people know he was OK. He posted a photo from the hospital with the words, "I'm good."

"It looks like he's doing fine," said coach Dave Tippett, who wasn't sure if his player would accompany the team to Buffalo for the next stop on the road trip.

Miller said he contacted Burmistrov via text and Burmistrov called it a "hockey play."

Said Tippett: "He was in a vulnerable position, but it's a hockey hit. Burmy's head is down, and it's a hard hit."

Miller, who scored a first-period goal, was ejected. Cassidy thought it was a clean hit.

"I was just trying to step up in the neutral zone and make a play on him, but you never like to see that with him going off on the stretcher," Miller said, also thinking it was a clean hit. "Hopefully he's feeling better.

"I definitely kind of let up there but like I said, things like that happen in a game, hopefully he's feeling better."

The win was the 10th straight for the Bruins (33-24-6) over the Coyotes, who also haven't won in Boston since 2009 and haven't beaten the Bruins since winning the 2010-11 season opener in the Czech Republic.

Red-hot Brad Marchand set up one goal and scored another late in the second period and Miller, Riley Nash (first short-handed goal of his career) and David Backes (second goal in 20 games) all scored for the Bruins.

Nash's goal came during the three-minute power play created by the Miller penalty and Arizona's Jakob Chychrun jumping Miller in reaction to the hit and getting two minutes for roughing.

Patrice Bergeron had two assists and has 21 points in the last 14 games, while Marchand has 23 over that same span.

"I think we tried to carry over the momentum that we created on the road," Bergeron said. "Sometimes it's not easy to come back after a long road trip with the time change and all that, so I thought we did a good job. It was maybe not the best start that we've gotten over the last few games, but I still thought we battled back. As soon as we got that second goal, it seemed like we got our game going."

Boston chased goaltender Mike Smith (3-12 lifetime against the Bruins) on four goals on 14 shots in two periods -- three of the last four shots he faced went in.

Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots for his 30th victory of the season -- his fourth straight 30-win campaign, improving to 9-1 lifetime against the Coyotes.

"Obviously after a successful road trip like that ... it was a big trip for us and we definitely showed a lot of character in those wins," said Rask, adding, "but I think we've kind of found a way to focus on the things we need to focus on and play hockey out there, practice hard, play hard, and not overthink and that makes it fun."

Peter Holland scored a power-play goal for the Coyotes (22-33-7).

NOTES:

-- LW Teemu Pulkkinen, acquired from the Minnesota Wild Monday, joined his new team but did not dress.

-- Bruins GM Don Sweeney met the media 30 minutes before the game and said, "nothing is imminent" on the trade front.

-- The Coyotes play the second contest of their three-game trip at Buffalo on Thursday night, while the Bruins play the second of three straight home games Thursday against the New York Rangers.

-- Tuesday was First Responders Night at TD Garden.