Boston, MA – An intense second period from the Boston Bruins was the difference in their 5-2 win over the visiting New Jersey Devils in front of 17,850 at TD Garden on Saturday night. The Bruins staked New Jersey to a 2-0 lead early in the second period but stormed back on the strength of David Pastrnak and Kevin Shattenkirk’s two-goal games. Linus Ullmark stopped 31 of 33 shots en route to his 11th win of the season.
Boston also had multiple-point nights from Jake DeBrusk (one goal and two assists), Brad Marchand, and Charlie Coyle (two assists each) as they closed out a third-period lead at home for the first time recently.
The Devils struck first on the man advantage with Shattenkirk off for High-Sticking. Just six seconds into the New Jersey power play, Nico Hischier capped off a tic-tac-toe feed that he started with a face-off win in the Bruins zone. Jack Hughes dished to Tyler Toffoli along the goal line before Toffoli one-touched a pass to Hischier at the bottom of the left circle to make it 1-0 Devils. The goal was Hischier’s eighth of the year.
The Bruins had built momentum as the first period churned on. Devils netminder Vitek Vanecek (27 saves) was without his stick, and Bruins’ forward Johnny Beecher hit the post with a shot. Boston kept the pressure in the Devils’ zone for over a minute, but a Tripping penalty called on Pastrnak killed the Bruins’ buzz.
New Jersey built on their lead just 1:11 into the middle frame when defenseman Luke Hughes fired off a shot from just inside the Boston zone that beat Ullmark high blocker-side. Hughes started the play behind the Devils’ net when he bore the brunt of a Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha hit. The two Bruins’ players fell after Hughes dished to Jesper Bratt, who hit Toffoli (2 assists) exiting the New Jersey zone. Hughes raced up into the fore-check where he corralled Toffoli’s pass and skated one-on-three against the Bruins before using Charlie McAvoy as a screen to beat Ullmark high glove-side.
After that, Ullmark slammed the door shut on New Jersey, and DeBrusk kicked off the Bruins’ comeback. Marchand sped along the boards and stole the puck as Vanecek tried to play it behind the Devils net. Marchand initially tried to pass to DeBrusk in front of the net, but Hischier stole the pass only to lose it to Marchand again before he hit DeBrusk, streaking in on Vanecek. DeBrusk deked Vanecek towards the near post before pulling the puck to his backhand and sliding it past a sprawling Vanecek at the far post for goal number five of the season.
“I loved the response of the bench,” said Bruins Head Coach Jim Montgomery. “We felt like we were playing a good game, we felt like we were playing to our identity, and we felt like we were playing Bruins hockey and that played itself out. Players were competing and I thought we were physical tonight.”
Pastrnak stuck for his first at 12:51 when he swatted in a trickling Brandon Carlo shot from the top of the right circle as it made its way to the goal line. Pastrnak beat Vanecek and Devils’ defenseman John Marino to the puck for his 21st of the season.
“That first one, he stole it from Brando (Brandon Carlo),” Montgomery said of Pastrnak’s first goal to tie the game. “He doesn’t have enough.”
Pastrnak would break the stalemate 3-2 on the power play at 15:39 after he beat Vanecek in the crease for his second of the game and 22nd of the year. McAvoy’s two-line pass to DeBrusk sprang the two forwards into the offensive zone before DeBrusk hit a streaking Pastrnak at the top of the left circle. Pastrnak faked Vanecek to the near post before switching to his backhand and depositing the eventual game-winner at the far post.
“I think he challenged me the shot, he went forward,” said Pastrnak. “I was thinking about shooting high glove, had a quick look, had a lot of speed. It’s hard for the goaltender to follow me all the way to the far post.”
“You’re on the bench and you’re excited: ‘What’s he going to do next?’” said Montgomery. “He just went for a simple, traditional backhand goal around the far post, but he makes it look pretty nice.”
Shattenkirk added to the Bruins lead 4-2 at 17:14 when he beat Vanecek with a snapshot from the right circle for his third of the season. Shattenkirk’s goal was his 100th career goal in 14 seasons.
Goal # 101 would seal the game for the Bruins at 16:49 of the third period. Shattenkirk carried the puck into the Devils’ zone along the wall before dishing to Pastrnak back at the blue line. Pastrnak fed a streaking Marchand cross-ice before Marchand slid the puck across the crease for Shattenkirk to beat a diving Vanecek to make it 5-2.
NOTES:
Matt Grzelcyk had an assist on the first Shattenkirk goal. It was Grzelcyk’s first game back after missing the last three due to injury.
23-year-old center Georgii Merkulov made his NHL debut on a line with James van Riemsdyk and Trent Frederic. The 5′-11″ Ryazan, Russia native skated 15:08 minutes of play during 18 shifts. Montgomery did limit his play in the third period as the Bruins were nursing the two-point lead. In 31 games with the Providence Bruins, Merkulov tallied 14 goals and 16 assists for 30 points.
“Did a lot of good things,” said Montgomery of Merkulov’s performance. “I didn’t play him down the stretch just because we’re going to close out the game. As soon as we closed it out we put him back out there. He played a good, good game.”
The two-goal performances by Pastrnak and Shattenkirk were the 60th and 7th of their careers, respectively.
The Bruins play Sunday in Detroit, Michigan, against the Red Wings. The Original Six match-up gets underway @ 5 pm EST.
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