The Boston Bruins scored the first two goals of the game, but the New Jersey Devils rallied to tie it and outscored the visitors 2-1 in the shootout to take a 3-2 victory at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey Tuesday afternoon.
Brad Marchand started the scoring at 2:03 of the first period on the powerplay. David Pastrnak ripped a slap shot from the left faceoff circle that Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood couldn’t control, and Marchand whacked in the rebound to make it 1-0. Joakim Nordstrom doubled the lead when Sean Kuraly shoveled a loose puck from behind the New Jersey net into the crease, where Nordstrom found it and poked it past Blackwood at 4:27 of the second period. Blake Coleman would cut it to a goal though at 8:58, getting a feed from Nikita Gusev right in the slot that he one timed past Boston goalie Jaroslav Halak. New Jersey (14-19-6) dominated the third period outshooting Boston 19-5. The Devils were rewarded when PK Subban had his point shot deflected in by Jesper Bratt at 13:11 to tie the game.
Neither team could manage any great scoring chances in overtime to send it to the shootout. In the shootout neither team could find the net either in the first four rounds. The Devils went ahead in the fifth round when Jack Hughes scored, but Chris Wagner responded for the Bruins to send it to the sixth round. Damon Severson scored for New Jersey to begin that sixth round, and then Patrice Bergeron was stopped to end the game. Boston (24-7-10) is now 0-6 in shootouts this season. The black and gold did extend their points streak to eight games (4-0-4).
Halak made 42 saves in the loss for Boston. There were no multiple point scorers in the game for either team. Blackwood made 28 saves in the win for New Jersey. The Bruins went 1-3 on the powerplay, while the Devils went 0-4. Boston is back at home Thursday night to host the Columbus Blue Jackets.
