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Marchand, Rask Help Bruins Beat Coyotes, 5-2

Boston coach Claude Julien challenged his team's pride and the Bruins went out and gave him the response he wanted.

Brad Marchand scored twice, Tuukka Rask stopped 31 shots and Boston used a quick start to beat the reeling Arizona Coyotes 5-2 Saturday night and avoid a winless road trip.

Kevan Miller, Simon Gagne and Loui Eriksson also scored for Boston, which won at Arizona for the fifth straight time and finished 1-3 on its western trip.

A long practice, lengthy video session and a couple of lineup changes followed a dismal loss to San Jose on Thursday when the Bruins blew a 2-0 lead.

Boston jumped out to the same lead this time, but didn't give it up.

"We didn't want to go back home having not won a game," Julien said. "I thought we played well enough on this trip that somewhere along the way we should come out with a win. This was our last crack at it, and we found a way to get that win that we desperately needed."

Marchand scored 58 seconds in and added his team-best eighth goal late in the second period that chased Coyotes goalie Devan Dubnyk.

"You could tell the guys were desperate," Marchand said. "We played really good right from the get-go."

The Coyotes remain a troubled team.

Joe Vitale's second-period goal ended Arizona's 185:34 scoring drought at home. But it was 5-1 before Mikkel Boedker's power-play goal early in the third period as the Coyotes lost their seventh straight on home ice for the longest home skid since the franchise moved to Arizona in 1996.

"Somebody's got to grab something and give us a little lifeline," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "The guys that it usually comes down to when the team's struggling is the goaltenders, and we haven't been able to find consistency in that."

Arizona's mistakes started early.

Dougie Hamilton picked off Oliver Ekman-Larsson's pass in the neutral zone, and Marchand took Reilly Smith's pass and beat Dubnyk short-side to put Boston ahead before a minute was played.

Boston went up 2-0 less than 6 minutes in when defenseman Miller knocked in his own rebound after a poor clear by Dubnyk behind the net.

"I don't know if they took it right to us. We gave it to them," Tippett said. "The first two goals were just plain turnovers by us."

Dubnyk didn't provide a spark for Tippett, who yanked Mike Smith after he gave up three goals on 20 shots in Thursday's 4-0 loss to Los Angeles.

Marchand's second goal beat an out-of-position Dubnyk, making it 4-1 late in the second period. Tippett again turned to Smith, who quickly gave up Eriksson's first goal in 13 games.

"It's disappointing because I thought our effort was there," Dubnyk said.

The Coyotes ended their long scoring drought when Vitale's wrist shot beat Rask stick-side at 13:11 of the first period. Arizona hadn't scored in consecutive games and the equivalent of three full games on home ice.

Kyle Chipchura, who cleared waivers, didn't play for Arizona, David Schlemko was sent to the minors and Rob Klinkhammer was traded to Pittsburgh after being a healthy scratch Thursday.

Arizona also got defenseman Connor Murphy back after missing two games due to injury. And forward Jordan Martinook made his NHL debut and defenseman Andrew Campbell his Coyotes debut after being called up a day earlier.

None made a difference for Arizona, which has dropped eight of 10 and last won at home Nov. 4.

"I felt there were two desperate teams here tonight," Julien said. "Somebody had to be hungrier than the other, and it's nice to see that it was us."

NOTES: Gagne's goal off his skate was waved off by the officials, but overturned on replay when it was determined he didn't kick it in. ... Seth Griffith and Joe Morrow dressed for Boston after being recent healthy scratches, leaving David Pastrnak and Matt Bartkowski out of the lineup. ... Boston hasn't lost four straight in regulation since March 2012.

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