BOSTON -- With leading goal scorer David Pastrnak out of the lineup, the Boston Bruins figured to have to go with tight checking and defense at TD Garden Sunday.

They were able to do just that, edging the Los Angeles Kings 1-0.

"I think we did a great job defensively which was probably the key to this game," Boston coach Claude Julien said.

The Bruin limited Los Angeles to just 18 shots on Tuukka Rask, who stopped them all for his 34th career shutout.

Pastrnak, who has 19 goals, more than twice anyone else on the roster and was responsible for 24.6 percent of his team's goals coming in, underwent minor right elbow surgery Friday and, while officially listed as day-to-day, he is slated to miss at least two games.

In the first game without him, his teammates made life easy for Rask, whose fourth shutout of the season tied him with the Minnesota Wild's Devan Dubnyk for the league lead.

Jimmy Hayes scored on a deflection of a Colin Miller shot in the first period -- Hayes' second goal and second point of the season -- and that was it for the scoring. Kings goalie Peter Budaj kept his tired team -- four games in six days at the start of a nine-game trip -- in the game and the Bruins failed to score on a four-minute power play in the third period (they're 2-for-31 in their last 10 games).

"You try to help the team whenever you can, and today I got an opportunity so it's nice to cash in on one," Hayes said. It's going to be huge (for others to step up). A guy like that who's been scoring for us, scoring some big-time goals for us on a regular basis. You're going to need other guys to step up and that's going to have to be the mentality going forward."

Julien said Hayes reminded him of "probably the older Hayes that we had at times last year than the one we've seen this year."

Added Hayes: "Right spot, right time. It's nice to cash in on one."

Rask, improving his season record to 16-5-3, was not severely tested.

"It's one of those games that you only need one bad bounce or one really good chance for them to tie it, and today we didn't even give them that," Rask said.

The win, only the second in the last seven games for the Bruins, ended their three-game home losing streak and brought Boston back to .500 (8-8-0) this season at home.

The Kings were blanked for the fourth time this season, the first time since Nov. 1, when they suffered their third straight shutout in a loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

"Hey, we just played our fourth game today in (five) and a half days and we played our asses off again today," said Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter. "Guys that don't get to rest, guys that do got to play again today, and they left it all out there."

Budaj, who has been a workhorse in the Los Angeles goal since Jonathan Quick was injured on opening night, made 29 saves, but fell to 14-8-2 and lost for the third time in eight career decisions against the Bruins.

The loss dropped the Kings to 2-2 on their journey. They don't play again at home until Dec. 31 -- after nine games in 17 days on the road.

The only goal of the game was originally given to defenseman Colin Miller. He shot through a screen and the puck eluded Budaj after Hayes deflected it.

NOTES: Kings LW Dustin Brown was out of the lineup and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury -- but coach Darryl Sutter said Brown might have played if the game had been at night. ... Kings RW Marian Gaborik, who has one goal in nine games this season, was a healthy scratch. ... Los Angeles won both games against the Bruins last season, but 13 of the previous 15 games between the teams have been decided by two goals or fewer. ... Bruins D Kevan Miller, who missed the previous game with the flu, was back in the lineup. D Matt Grzelcyk was sent back to Providence after playing two games with Boston. ... The Kings continue their nine-game road game at Columbus -- after a mandatory day off the ice Monday -- Tuesday, and the Bruins host the New York Islanders on Tuesday night and then hit the road for four straight and five of the next six games.