The Anaheim Ducks no longer are mighty, but they sure do know how to look like it against the Boston Bruins.
The Ducks improved to 16-9-2-4 all time against the B’s thanks to an offensive explosion in the first two periods en route to a 4-3 win at TD Garden.
With the win, Anaheim improved to 16-10-5, while Boston dropped to 16-13-3.
Here’s how it all went down.
WILD FIRST PERIOD
It took the Bruins all of 13 seconds to take a 2-0 lead, although it didn’t last very long.
Zdeno Chara opened the scoring with a monster slap shot from the point past Jonathan Bernier’s glove at the 7:53 mark. David Backes and Brad Marchand both earned assists on the goal.
Boston quickly got the puck back in its offensive zone after the ensuing faceoff, and Austin Czarnik took advantage on a one-timer from the circle, which was set up by a nice Ryan Spooner pass from behind the net.
But Anaheim scored its first goal just 24 seconds later on a play that was credited to Andrew Cogliano, although it technically was an own goal.
And the Ducks tied it before the intermission on a Kevin Bieksa goal at the 2:10 mark. His breakaway goal was challenged by the Bruins for a potential offside, but it was upheld after review.
GOALS GALORE
The goal-fest continued in the second period.
The Ducks took their first lead of the game after an Anton Khudobin save produced a juicy rebound, which Jakob Silfverberg tipped to Josh Manson right in front of the net for his first goal of the season.
However, the Bruins responded pretty quickly on the power play when David Krejci scored off a rebound at the 17:54 mark.
But the Ducks took back the lead 5:02 into the second frame on Rickard Rakell’s 12th goal of the season.
As you probably can tell, it wasn’t the best night for goalies, as Khudobin stopped 23 of 27 shots and Bernier saved 31 of 34 shots.
UP NEXT
The B’s finally will get two straight off days before they return to TD Garden on Sunday for a 1 p.m. ET game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
