David Backes made his return to St. Louis last night for the first time since signing a five-year deal with the Bruins this summer. Backes previously spent 10 years with the Blues.

Heading into Tuesday’s contest, the former Blues’ captain knew it would be an emotional return and it certainly was. A first period montage highlighted Backes’ tenure as a Blue, thanking him for what he did both on and off the ice.

As for the game itself, well, that went exactly how Backes and the Bruins had hoped for. The Bruins scored three times in the first period en route to a 5-3 victory, their second of the four-game road trip that concludes Thursday night in Nashville. Tuukka Rask made a rather pedestrian 14 saves in the victory.

Let’s take a closer look at what we learned.

Power play comes to life:

.@Frank_Vatrano 👌 pic.twitter.com/r32v1uFHg4

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 11, 2017

Entering Tuesday, the Bruins had just two power play goals in their last 12 chances. Knowing the Blues were one of the league’s better penalty killing teams, the Black and Gold knew power play goals would be hard to come by.

The Bruins finished the night 2-for-4 with the man advantage. The last time they scored at least two power play goals in a game this season was back on November 7th when they went 3-for-8 during their 4-0 win over the Sabres.

Frank Vatrano opened the scoring in the first with a power play tally, his third goal of the year. Torey Krug would follow suit in the second period with his second goal of the season.

All in all it was a productive night for the Bruins power play.

Penalty kill not so much:

As encouraging as the power play was, the Bruins’ second ranked penalty kill was surprisingly discouraging.

Allowing two goals on five shorthanded attempts, the Bruins know they need to be better on the penalty kill moving forward as points continue to become extremely valuable. The Blues entered Tuesday with the fifth rank power play and made their man advantage look very easy. They had more than enough time and space and it hurt the Bruins.

Luckily for the Black and Gold, they were nearly perfect in the other fazes of the game.

Krug continues to produce offensively:

@ToreyKrug‘s PPG served as the game-winner vs. the Blues. Watch all highlights: https://t.co/avkHiDbIA1 pic.twitter.com/PvaE5OHTQN — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 11, 2017

Torey Krug got off to a slow start in the 2016-17 campaign. The veteran defenseman went the first nine games without a point, and 13 without a goal.

After a pointless October, Krug has made up for his disappointing start with 10 points in November, 11 in December and now four points in five January games.

With the Bruins offense very inconsistent at times, Krug has done a nice job stepping up and creating scoring chances. The Bruins will look to Krug to continue to find his name on the scoresheet each night.

McQuaid and Miller exit:

A handful of times this season the Bruins have been forced to play with less then six defensemen. Zdeno Chara, Kevan Miller and John-Michael Liles are among a few Bruins defensemen who have left the ice during play, failing to return.

After last night, you can add Adam McQuaid and Colin Miller to that list.

McQuaid was injured in the first period of Tuesday’s win after a big collision with Blues forward Patrik Berglund favoring his right shoulder. McQuaid went right down to the ice and looked to be in a lot of pain.

As for Miller, the 23-year-old went down favoring his knee after a collision with Ryan Reaves. He skated one shift following the apparent injury – for six seconds – before heading to the locker room for the remainder of the game.

Both McQuaid and Miller were evaluated by medical staff following the victory according to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.

Backes drops the gloves:

Bruins fans very well know David Backes is not afraid to drop the gloves. His 25 career NHL fights back that up.

After Jori Lehtera laid a big hit on David Krejci that forced Krejci to the locker room for a brief moment, Backes came to the aid of his center, dropping the gloves with Joel Edmundson.

Playing in just his third game since returning from a concussion, Backes is the last Bruin anyone wants to see taking fists to the head. With Backes’ concussion history and now recent battles with concussion issues, the 32-year-old may want to think twice next time about getting into a fight.