Boston takes 2 of 3 on the swing through California. Just as important, Marty Turco was instrumental in the win, giving the Bruins, and Tim Thomas, some much-needed relief with a strong performance. Turco made 25 saves for his first win as a Bruin and first victory in the NHL in over a year.
He had some help, especially from the red-hot third line as Chris Kelly, Brian Rolston and Benoit Pouliot combined for two more goals and four assists. That line now has 9-17-26 totals and is a combined plus-23 in the last six games.
The win pushed Boston's lead over Ottawa to five points and over Buffalo to seven points for the top spot in the Northeast Division. The Bruins still have one game in hand on both the Senators and the Sabres. Boston also picked up a point on Florida, which lost in a shootout to the Islanders and is now four points behind Boston for the second seed in the East.
The Bruins return home to face Tampa Bay on Tuesday at the Garden.
Third Period, 18:56, Bruins 3-2: The Bruins use their timeout as the Ducks continue to press for the tying goal with Hiller pulled for the extra attacker. He has to go back into the net with the faceoff at center ice.
Third Period, 17:31, Bruins 3-2: The Ducks do pull within one as Lubomir Visnovsky scores off a wild scramble in front.
Zdeno Chara coughed up the puck after a borderline hook, and Visnovsky eventually converted with a shot up high from the slot.
Third Period, 16:01, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins kill off that penalty with Turco making a pair of huge saves to keep the lead at two goals with the sides now back at even strength less with than four minutes to play in regulation.
Third Period, 14:01, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins will have a key penalty to kill here late in the third as Tyler Seguin is called for high-sticking to give the Ducks a power play.
Third Period, 13:06, Bruins 3-1: The Bruins add a huge insurance goal, and once again, it's the third line providing the key score.
Brian Rolston stays red hot with another goal, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle off a feed from Chris Kelly on a 2 on 1. Benoit Pouliot sprung the odd-man break by taking a huge hit to make the play.
Third Period, 10:38, Bruins 2-1: Andrew Ference is back on the ice for the Bruins. That's a good sign for sure, although he is still moving a little gingerly out there.
Third Period, 8:35, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins now just miss out on a goal as Brad Marchand beats Hiller with a shot from the left wing, but the puck clangs off the post and stays out.
Third Period, 7:22, Bruins 2-1: The Ducks appeared to pull even as Matt Belesky scored from the slot, but the goal is waved off because Andrew Cogliano interfered with Turco. It's not a penalty, but the contact was enough to negate the goal and keep the Bruins in the lead.
Third Period, 6:40, Bruins 2-1: The fourth line puts plenty of pressure on the Ducks with some strong work by Thornton, Campbell and Caron creating a series of scoring chances for the Bruins.
Third Period, 4:51, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins had some near misses but just couldn't quite connect on the opportunities created during the power play, and the sides are back to even strength.
Third Period, 2:51, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins will go on the power play looking for an insurance goal as Shawn Thornton draws an interference call on Luca Sbisa.
Third Period, 1:22, Bruins 2-1: The Ducks nearly tie it as Saku Koivu rings the near post from the right circle. Andrew Ference blocked a shot earlier in that shift and has gone to the locker room after struggling through the rest of the shift.
Third Period, 0:00, Bruins 2-1: The final frame is under way in Anaheim, where the Bruins will need a strong final 20 minutes to close out a key win to cap this West Coast trip before returning home.
Second Intermission Notes: The Bruins are one period away from collecting a huge win on the road, but they still have a lot of work to do to secure those two points.
Boston's offense broke through in the second, with Zdeno Chara opening the scoring and Benoit Pouliot adding another goal 1:22 later. The third line continues to produce with Brian Rolston and Chris Kelly each getting assists on that Pouliot goal. That trio now has 8-15-23 totals in the last six games.
Marty Turco continues to look strong with 12 saves on 13 shots so far. Rich Peverley has also played well in his return. He has a pair of shots and is a plus-1 in 10:26 of ice time through two periods. Peverley is also 2-0 on faceoffs, with the Bruins still dominating the draws 25-17 (60 percent). David Krejci leads the way there at 7-1.
End Second Period, Bruins 2-1: The middle frame comes to a close with the Bruins still up a goal despite a strong push from the Ducks after Anaheim got on the board to cut into Boston's two-goal lead.
Second Period, 18:55, Bruins 2-1: Zdeno Chara with quite a shift, jumping up in the attack to try to get something going offensively, then hustling back to break up an Anaheim 2-on-1 break.
Second Period, 15:20, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins nearly get their two-goal lead back, but Jordan Caron can't get a stick on the feed from Gregory Campbell with an open net in front of him at the right post.
Second Period, 12:10, Bruins 2-1: The Ducks have taken over the momentum after that goal, but the Bruins finally muster a counterattack with Krejci nearly setting up Seguin on the left wing with a chance.
Second Period, 9:11, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins don't keep that two-goal lead for long as Teemu Selanne needs just 11 seconds of power-play time to get Anaheim on the board.
Selanne tipped a blast from Cam Fowler from the left post, redirecting it just enough to get by Turco.
Second Period, 9:00, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins will be shorthanded with Adam McQuaid called for holding, but they still have a two-goal lead as Turco robs Nick Bonino all alone in the right slot during the delayed call.
Second Period, 5:59, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins add another one quickly as Benoit Pouliot doubles the lead.
Chris Kelly took a pass from Brian Rolston, faked a shot from the slot and left the puck for Pouliot, who ripped in a quick wrister from the left slot past Hiller.
Second Period, 4:37, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins strike first as Zdeno Chara opens the scoring.
Chara snapped in a quick wrister from the left point that deflected off the stick of a defender in front and got past Hiller.
Second Period, 3:01, 0-0: The Bruins fourth line has a chance as Gregory Campbell flips the puck to the front of the net, where Shawn Thornton nearly put it home with a nifty move to the backhand from the top of the crease.
Second Period, 2:08, 0-0: The Bruins have come out strong to start the second, creating several chances. The best was from Peverley, but his one-timer in the slot was blocked in front by the defense.
Second Period, 0:00, 0-0: The middle frame is under way in Anaheim, where both teams are still searching for the first goal in this defensive struggle.
First Intermission Notes: It was a solid road period for the Bruins in the first. They kept Anaheim's chances to a minimum, and Marty Turco took care of the few shots that the Ducks did manage.
Turco only faced one shot in the first half of the period but was tested more later on, especially on the Ducks' lone power play. The shots finished even at 6-6, but it's a very encouraging sign for the Bruins that Turco looks as strong and poised as he did after his rough outing in Tampa.
Rich Peverley also looked strong in his first game back. He saw time at even strength, on the power play and on the penalty kill as he wasn't exactly eased back into action. But he looks up to the challenge. He had one shot on a good scoring chance early and was 2-0 on faceoffs in 4:50. Peverley was just part of Boston's domination on draws, with the Bruins 14-4 overall (78 percent) on faceoffs.
End First Period, 0-0: The opening frame comes to a close with no scoring. Marty Turco was a big reason for that, delivering a strong bounce-back performance after his struggles the last time out in Tampa.
First Period, 16:01, 0-0: The Bruins kill off that penalty, with Turco coming through when tested for the first time. He denied Teemu Selanne on a redirection of a Cam Fowler shot, then stopped a Fowler blast and Bobby Ryan's rebound in front as the Ducks put three shots on goal during the power play.
First Period, 14:01, 0-0: The Bruins will be shorthanded for the first time in this one with Andrew Ference sent off for tripping. Boston is up 3-1 in shots at this point.
First Period, 12:58, 0-0: The Bruins have a rare offensive chance as Benoit Pouliot steals the puck from Cam Fowler and breaks in alone but can't put the shot home against Hiller.
First Period, 10:35, 0-0: Not much offense early in this one, with each team managing just one shot on goal more than halfway through the period.
Greg Zanon did land a different kind of shot with a big hit on Corey Perry behind the net as the physical play has picked up a bit.
First Period, 7:12, 0-0: The Bruins can't get much going on that power play, struggling to sustain any time in the Anaheim zone and not even getting a shot on goal before the sides return to even strength.
First Period, 5:12, 0-0: The Bruins will get the first power-play chance of the night as Lubomir Visnovsky goes off for tripping Brian Rolston just outside the Anaheim blue line.
First Period, 3:26, 0-0: Peverley almost makes his presence felt right away as he's set up for a scoring bid from the slot off a feed from the left side by Bergeron, but Jonas Hiller robs Peverley with a glove save.
First Period, 0:30, 0-0: Rich Peverley takes his first since since being hurt Feb. 15 as he's out with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand in the opening minute of this one.
First Period, 0:00, 0-0: This one is under way in Anaheim, where the Bruins will look to finish their West Coast trip in style. They'll do it with Marty Turco in goal and Rich Peverley back in the lineup after missing 19 games with a knee injury.
8 p.m.: The Bruins will open with the red-hot third line of Chris Kelly between Benoit Pouliot and Brian Rolston to start. Andrew Ference and Zdeno Chara will start on defense, with Marty Turco in goal.
The Ducks counter with Devante Smith-Pelly, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry up front, Lubomir Visnovsky and Luca Sbisa on the blue line and Jonas Hiller in net.
7:55 p.m.: Rich Peverley is officially back for the Bruins. Daniel Paille joins Trent Whitfield, Joe Corvo and Mike Mottau as the healthy scratches.
The Ducks have scratched tough guy George Parros, Rod Pelley and defenseman Nate Guinen (orbital bone).
7:45 p.m.: Based on the lines in warm-ups, it appears that Rich Peverley may be returning in this game, with Daniel Paille the likely scratch.
The warm-up lines had Tyler Seguin back up with Milan Lucic and David Krejci, while Peverley skated with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. the third line of Benoit Pouliot, Chris Kelly and Brian Rolston remained intact, with Jordan Caron joining Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton on the fourth unit.
Official scratches will come in a few minutes.
7:30 p.m.: Marty Turco leads the Bruins onto the ice for warm-ups. He'll get a shot for his second start with the Bruins, and both Turco and the Bruins will hope this goes better than his first effort in Tampa.
Jonas Hiller led out the Ducks and will start for Anaheim, as expected.
7:15 p.m.: Claude Julien didn't tip his hand on any of his tough decisions while meeting with the media moments ago.
Rich Peverley will take warm-ups again, but Julien hasn't made a decision if he will play or who will sit if he does.
"It is tough," Julien said of deciding who to scratch if Peverley plays. "It's never an easy decision to make."
Julien did add that he'd rather have to make those tough decisions with more players available then continue to deal with injuries to key players.
Julien also wouldn't reveal his starting goalie, instead having some fun with the reporters on hand. "That's a good question," Julien joked, adding that he wouldn't say because he got out of the "wrong side of the bed. You guys can see who comes out first [in warm-ups]."
7 p.m.: The Bruins will close out their West Coast trip in Anaheim, with the faceoff in just about an hour.
The Bruins need a victory to end the trip with a winning record after splitting games in San Jose and Los Angeles. They also need a win to maintain their lead in the Northeast Division, with the Senators and Sabres still breathing down their necks.
8 a.m. ET: The Bruins ended their four-game road losing streak Saturday in Los Angeles. Now they'll look to close out their California trip with back-to-back victories as they take on the Ducks in Anaheim on Sunday.
That won't be easy, though. The Ducks are out of the playoff mix, in 12th place in the West, thanks to a brutal first half of the season, but they've been among the hottest teams in the league in the second half. Anaheim was just 10-22-6 on Jan. 4 but has gone 22-10-5 since. That includes victories in the Ducks' last two games, beating a San Jose club that defeated Boston to open the Bruins' trip and a St. Louis team that leads the Western Conference.
The Bruins have also lost three straight games to the Ducks and have not won in Anaheim since before the owners' lockout, with their last victory at the then Pond, now Honda Center, back on Oct. 19, 2003.
Boston needs to win this one, though. Even with Saturday's 4-2 win over the Kings, the Bruins are just three points ahead of Ottawa and five points ahead of Buffalo for the Northeast Division lead. They do have two games in hand on both the Senators and Sabres. They're even in games with Florida, which is just three points back of Boston for the second seed in the East.
The Bruins could get some reinforcements in this one. Rich Peverley, who has been out since Feb. 15 with a knee injury, took warm-ups Saturday in Los Angeles. He didn't play against the Kings but should return soon, perhaps as early as Sunday in Anaheim.
The puck drops at 8 p.m. Tune in to NESN to watch the game, and stay with the NESN.com live blog, as we'll keep you up to speed on everything happening.
