Fast and furious was a pretty good way for the Bruins to head toward Christmas.

Moving the puck swiftly and efficiently, the Bruins scored three goals in a 68-second span of the first period, building an insurmountable cushion in a 6-4 victory over the Thrashers Wednesday.

Trading scoring chances is a way of life for the Thrashers, and the Bruins were able to make Atlanta pay for its catch-me-if-you-can style.

Mixing a power-play goal by Marc Savard with two goals within a 20-second span by Daniel Paille and Vladimir Sobotka, the Bruins offense came alive in the first period. The team’s previously doormat power play also struck again in the second and third periods to help the B’s secure the win, which coupled with a 2-0 victory in Ottawa Monday has the Bruins in a fine holiday mood.  

“The bottom line is we needed two wins before Christmas and we got them,” said forward Mark Recchi, who had two assists in the victory. “A lot of positives happened in the last two games, and we will enjoy our Christmas break now.”

It was not easy.

The Thrashers can score almost as quickly as they can give up goals. They tested Tim Thomas (25 saves) all night, and while Thomas made the TD Garden crowd uneasy after surrendering a pair of goals to Atlanta late in the first period and again in third, generally the Boston goalie was sharp.

“It was one of those Christmas games that are tough because everybody is excited about the holidays,” said Savard, who added two assists along with the goal that started a night of up-tempo hockey. “It seems like who can ever stay in it the longest gets the win.”

With 10 Bruins players earning points, the offense showing up at the party and special teams providing a holiday bonus, the Bruins put a bright bow on an early present for their ready-to-rock-out Christmas carol fans.

Here are three things that stood out:

A FRANTIC FIRST PERIOD

Before the Bruins went on a power play midway though the first period, the Garden was close to silent, with fans having little spark to break their post-shopping haze other than a Thomas breakaway save against Colby Armstrong.

Working with a man-advantage, Savard took a great cross zone pass from Zdeno Chara and roofed the puck over Atlanta starting goalie Ondrej Pavelec 9:44 into the first to get things going.

Aside from bringing the crowd into the game, the goal also provided Savard with some added momentum as he had just ended a five-game streak without a point by picking up an assist in Ottawa Monday.

“I had gone through a stretch where I didn’t have any points in five games and it in three of those I had zero shots, “Savard said. “I talked to the coaching staff and they said to get results you have to put the puck on net.”

Just 48 seconds after Savard’s goal, the Bruins returned to the Thrashers zone and Recchi directed a sharp pass from the right boards to Paille for a quick tip past Pavelec and a 2-0 Bruins advantage.

Some 20 seconds after that goal, the B’s were back at it, as Shawn Thornton successfully moved the puck to Sobotka for another tip-in as he completed a center lane drive.

Suddenly the Bruins had a 3-0 advantage. The 68-second deluge spelled the end of the night for Pavelec who was replaced by Johan Hedberg after giving up the three goals on just eight shots.  

POWER PLAY PUNCH

With the Bruins working on a two-man advantage for 1:45 early in the second period, Chara blasted a point shot by Hedberg.  Michael Ryder added a final power play tally in the third.

The Bruins power play had entered Wednesday’s contest 0-13 over five prior games. The multi power play goal effort against the Thrashers was the first for Boston since netting two power play goals against Toronto on December 10.

“Three power play goals tonight and that’s huge,” said Chara who also assisted on a empty net goal by Patrice Bergeron to complete a three points night (1 goal, 2 assists). “Any time your special teams are good and they are bailing you out, that’s huge because obviously without those three goals it would be a pretty tough night for us.”

YOU'RE A MEAN ONE, MR. KOVALCHUK

Despite having multi-goal leads for most of the contest, the Bruins were aware that things could all change very quickly, especially when explosive Atlanta forward Ilya Kovalchuk was on the ice.

Darting with the puck, stopping on a dime and unleashing a game high six shots, Kovalchuk was a constant nuisance and formidable threat.

With the Bruins leading 3-1 in the first, Kovalchuk set up Maxim Afinogenov for a goal to draw Atlanta within one.  In the third he scored to bring Atlanta within a 5-4 deficit with 4:52 still to play.

Sharp play by Thomas over the final minutes prevented Kovalchuk and company from providing any further holiday buzz kill.

“They’re very tough to play against offensively and they got a lot of speed and they used it at times against us and took advantage of some of the opportunities they had,” Thomas said. “Fortunately we were able to keep them from taking any more advantages and that’s why we came up with a win.”