For the first two periods, the Boston Bruins played better than their 2-0 margin indicated when they entered the locker room for the second intermission.

With desperation setting in for the Coyotes, the Bruins needed a little help from their goaltender to secure another win on the road.

Still, Saturday’s 2-1 win in Arizona continues a trend of the Black and Gold taking care of business against teams beneath them in the standings – something that they struggled with towards the end of 2015-16.

Here is what we learned as the Bruins jump to third place in the Atlantic Division.

Pastrnak joins elite company

What more can be said about the hot start of David Pastrnak that we haven’t covered already? Well, when he joins the Team President in exclusive company, I suppose we can talk a little more about his play.

At 9:44 of the second period – exactly 1:50 after Ryan Spooner tipped in Zdeno Chara’s shot from the point putting the Bruins on the board – Pastrnak fired a wicked shot past Louis Dominigue to score his 10th of the year in just his 13th game of the season. The 20-year-old winger is the first Bruin to accomplish such a feat since Cam Neely during the 1995 lockout-shortened season.

Pastrnak’s 10 goals keeps him in a tie for second in the league – along with Sidney Crosby and Mark Scheifele – one behind rookie Patrik Laine.

Rask task continues

To reiterate another point of emphasis in the early portion of 2016-17: as Tuukka Rask goes, so do the Bruins.

Rask came through with some solid stops and his rebounding control limited the Coyotes second chance opportunities. The Finnish netminder finished with 31 saves on the evening, 11 coming in the third period as the Desert Dogs entered desperation mode in an attempt to force overtime.

The 2014 Vezina Winner improved to 9-1-0 on the season; and 6-0-0 on the road. If it weren’t for Carey Price’s hot start in Montreal, Rask would likely be the favorite in the early part of the season to take home another Vezina Trophy.

An eye-opening night at the faceoff circle for Bergeron

He may not be finding much success on the scoresheet with four points (two goals, two assists) in 12 games played. But, as usual, Patrice Bergeron always finds a way to help his team.

On this night, Bergeron’s success at the faceoff circle put the Bruins in a good position all night long while he was on the ice. But it wasn’t just a normal day in the office for the three-time Selke Award winner. The Bruins’ alternate captain ended Saturday night going 19-for-24 at the dot (79 percent) which included a couple of crucial faceoff wins in crunch time as the Bruins held on to their slim one-goal lead.

First fight for Carlo in the books

The first 15 games of Brandon Carlo’s career has been quite eventful. Whether it’s skating with Zdeno Chara on the top pair, scoring his first NHL goal or developing into a very solid rookie blue-liner, Carlo’s potential is giving Bruins fans something to look forward to.

In Glendale, the 19-year-old got his first NHL fight in the books against Brad Richardson. Though it was more of a hugging contest than it was an actual fistacuffs, it counts just the same.

It may not be the most memorable moment of Carlo’s career and it won’t be the highlight when his fight record is fully tallied up on hockeyfights.com. But at least Carlo can add another first to his rookie season accomplishments.

Carlo will chalk up another first Sunday night when he returns to his home state of Colorado as the Bruins conclude their busy week against the Avalanche.