The Bruins weren’t about to go on another losing streak.
Boston potted three unanswered goals in the third with help from two defensemen and the league-leading scorer, eventually lifting the B’s to a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
Matt Grzelcyk (twice), David Pastrnak (twice) and Connor Clifton notched the goals for Boston, while Blake Coleman accounted for New Jersey’s lone tally at Prudential Center.
Tuukka Rask stopped 25 shots, while Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 23.
With the win, the Bruins moved to 13-3-5, while the Devils fell to 7-9-4.
Here’s how it all went down.
B’S GET TWO
The Bruins looked poised to go ahead in the opening minutes of the first when Jake DeBrusk was all alone on his first shift back after missing five games, but Blackwood denied the shot to keep things scoreless.
Jake DeBrusk is making his presence felt early in this one. ? pic.twitter.com/WQ4B1wGj2R
— NESN (@NESN) November 20, 2019
Boston successfully killed off a DeBrusk tripping penalty and immediately found the back of the net not once, but twice in less than 20 seconds.
First, David Krejci backhanded a pass to Brad Marchand who fed the puck to Grzelcyk. He then wristed it top corner by Mackenzie Blackwood for the 1-0 lead.
Grizzy kicks it off.@Matt_Grzelcyk5 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/k0PW4DCbwj
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 20, 2019
Just 14 seconds later, Marchand fed the puck to Pastrnak at the faceoff dot. Pastrnak then hammered it home to make it 2-0 and extend his league-leading goals to 18.
There's no shortage of goals being scored by David Pastrnak (@pastrnak96). pic.twitter.com/B1mXbFDJp3
— NHL (@NHL) November 20, 2019
The B’s found themselves up 2-0 at the end of 20, with Boston holding a slim 6-5 shot advantage over the Devils.
DEVILS GET ONE BACK
It looked as if Boston was going to take a 2-0 lead into the third, but the Devils finally got on the board with 1:49 left in the second.
Charlie McAvoy lost Coleman down the slot put forth a tremendous effort and it resulted in a beautiful backhanded goal to cut the Bruins’ lead to 2-1.
For heaven's Blake!#WeAreTheOnes | #BOSvsNJD pic.twitter.com/74beJJkugk
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 20, 2019
That’s the only goal the middle stanza featured, as the B’s held on for the one-goal lead heading into the third.
Boston edged the Devils 18-16 in shots.
SECONDS FOR PASTA, GRIZZ
Much like the first, it was Grzelcyk and Pastrnak who helped build the Bruins.
P.K. Subban went off for tripping and Pastrnak beat Blackwood with a blistering slapshot from the top of the power play formation to make it 3-1.
Same caption works here.@pastrnak96 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/tdx6Wr5MuP
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 20, 2019
Then it was time for Grzelcyk to pot his second goal after he faked out Subban with a toe drag before going bar down from the dot for the 4-1 edge.
?s all around.@Matt_Grzelcyk5 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/mQsc3X5Hik
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 20, 2019
But Clifton wanted in on the offensive fun, and did just that when Anders Bjork dished it to his teammate at the point before the defenseman lit the lamp for the second time this season and to give Boston a 5-1 cushion before the eventual win by the same score.
UP NEXT
The Bruins return home Thursday for a game against the Buffalo Sabres. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET.
