The St. Louis Blues were bound to give up a few goals. The Boston Bruins were due to light the lamp a few more times. Those two trends interchanged into a perfect storm on Friday night.

But, as usual with the Black and Gold in 2015-16, it wasn’t easy.

Led by two power play goals and David Krejci’s four-point night, the Bruins exploded for a six spot against one of the best defensive teams in the league. In that regard, they finished their scoring chances — something that haunted them during the seven-game stretch to end the month of March.

Yet they had trouble sealing the victory as the Blues made a heavy push in the third after trailing 5-2 through 40 minutes. Their deficit had been cut to one on two separate occasions, including Kevin Shattenkirk’s 14th of the season with a little over 20 seconds left in regulation.

As ugly as the third period was, the Bruins finally breathed a sigh of relief after killing a late Adam McQuaid hooking penalty — shortly after Shattenkirk’s goal — to secure the 6-5 win. Here are a few things that we learned as the B’s keep their one-point advantage over the Red Wings (who won 3-2 over the Wild on Friday) in tact.

Milestones for Bergeron and Krejci

Patrice Bergeron (bottom) and David Krejci (top) reached the 30-goal and 60-point plateau, respectively, on Friday night. (Photos by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

During the seven-game stretch to end March, Krejci’s play was widely critiqued around The Hub. In that span, the veteran from the Czech Republic tallied just four points, which included a four-game stretch where he didn’t tally a point and was a minus-5.

In one night, Krejci matched that seven-game total. He was unquestionably the Bruins’ best player in St. Louis. Whether it was crashing the net — on his first period goal to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead — or winning key faceoffs — as seen on Matt Beleskey’s second period tally right off a draw — Krejci was making things happen. The four points gave him 60 on the season, marking the fifth time in his career that he accomplished such a feat.

Krejci wasn’t the only Bruin who celebrated an accomplishment. Another veteran, Patrice Bergeron scored his 30th of the season at a pivotal point in the third period to give the Bruins a 6-4 lead on the power play. The three-time Selke winner now has three 30-goal seasons under his belt and is one tally shy of tying his career high of 31 set in 2005-06.

Liles relied upon heavily in his return

John-Michael Liles notched a pair of first period assists in his return to the lineup on Friday night. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

After missing the last two games with a lower-body injury, John-Michael Liles returned to action skating alongside Zdeno Chara on the top defensive unit. While his defensive flaws were exposed at times on Friday night, Liles was reliable in his return where he tallied two assists in a season high 26:05 time on ice.

Since coming over from Carolina at the trade deadline, Liles has provided a little extra depth on the blue-line. Claude Julien could use every body he can muster at this point, especially since Kevan Miller left Friday’s game with a lower body injury after colliding with Magnus Paajarvi in the first period.

Physicality and desperation ramped up a notch

When these two physical teams meet, it usually results in tight defense, heavy hitting, post-whistle scrums and low scoring. The physicality was there, as was the desperation for both squads. But the 11 total goals was outside the norm of a typical Bruins-Blues matchup.

As one team fights for their playoff lives and another battles the Stars for first place in the Central Division, the Bruins and Blues matched each other’s desperation with their physical natures. Both teams combined for 50 hits and several scrums that also included David Backes wrapping his arm around Liles after Lee Stempniak was called for an illegal check to the head on Scottie Upshall. The scene from that post-whistle rendevous was made for sharing on social media.

The softer side of NHL scrums. pic.twitter.com/npxD1x6KTS

— Ted Starkey (@TedStarkey) April 2, 2016

“Can’t we all just get along?”

Another strange bedfellow

On Tuesday, Bruins fans were rooting for the hated Canadiens to pull out a victory against the Red Wings. As weird as it felt, they got their wish. Despite losing to the Devils that night, the Habs did the Black and Gold a huge favor with their victory over the Red Wings in Montreal.

Three days later, a former Bruin was rooting for his old squad to pull out a win. He got his wish.

Little bit of a weird thing to say but come on Bruins!

— Tyler Seguin (@tseguinofficial) April 2, 2016

Indeed, strange times are here.

Scoreboard watching

The Bruins exhaled a sigh of relief after surviving a late third period push by the Blues. (Photo by Joe Makarski, Bruins Daily)

With the win, the Bruins passed the Flyers in points. Philly, which has two games in hand on Boston, is in action this afternoon as they host the Ottawa Senators.

The Red Wings are back in action in Toronto tonight as they look to overtake the Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division. Even if they do, the Black and Gold could find themselves sitting in the second wild card spot by the end of the night if the Sens manage to beat the Flyers in regulation.