Brad Marchand scored the game winning goal in the second period Tuesday night and Tuuka Task made 37 saves, to lead the Boston Bruins past the New Jersey Devils 3-2 at TD Garden in Boston.
After a scoreless first period, New Jersey opened the scoring when Miles Wood scored at 2:05 of the second. A little less than five minutes later, Bruins forward Riley Nash got his seventh goal of the year to make it 1-1. Devils defenseman Damon Severson regained the New Jersey lead exactly two minutes later. At 12:53, Patrice Bergeron took a perfect feed from Marchand just below the right faceoff dot on the powerplay to tie it up 2-2. Marchands game winner came on a two on one breakout at 19:27, Marchand was able to break in and deek out Devils goalie Corey Schneider for his 21st goal of the season.
New Jersey (24-15-8) had some good chances in the third period, including in the final minute when they had pulled the goalie for an extra attacker, but Rask was able to come up with a few grade A saves to help preserve the Bruins win. Schneider stopped 17 of 20 shots in his two periods of work. Ken Appleby played in goal in the third period and stopped all three shots he faced.
Boston has now gained at least a point in 17 consecutive games (13-0-4). The Bruins haven’t lost in regulation since December 14th when they fell 5-3 to Washington. They are 28-10-8, and will head on the road to play Ottawa Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
