Bruins Wrap: Boston Clinches Playoff Berth With Win Against Devils

The Boston Bruins are heading to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Bruins clinched a playoff berth with a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils — a team they’ve struggled against this season — on Monday night at Prudential Center.

Nick Ritchie, Patrice Bergeron and Matt Grzelcyk scored for the Bruins, while Tuukka Rask made 20 saves en route to the shutout.

With the win, the B’s moved to 31-14-6, while the Devils fell to 17-28-7.

Here’s how it all went down:

NO SCORE AFTER 20
The Bruins came out of the gate, but the game remained scoreless after one period of play despite it being an incredibly one-sided 20 minutes.

Kevan Miller laid a huge hit on A.J. Greer, Tuukka Rask made some timely stops and the B’s all around just put more pressure on the Devils.

Boston rattled off 17 shots on Scott Wedgewood while also accumulating a whopping 19 scoring chances, as opposed to New Jersey’s four shots on net.

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BRUINS UP TWO
The Bruins struck first about halfway through the second thanks to Ritchie continuing to be strong in front of the net.

Ritchie perfectly timed his shot from the right circle to beat Wedgewood glove side and make it a 1-0 game.

Bergeron added some insurance in the final two minutes when Brad Marchand backhanded the puck to his linemate in the slot who then let the puck fly by Wedgewood for the 2-0 lead.

The Bruins went into the third with a two-goal lead and a whopping 37-9 shot advantage.

B’S PLAYOFF BOUND
Connor Clifton responded to Greer boarding Jakub Zboril in the third by dropping the gloves to keep the momentum in the Bruins’ favor.

Grzelcyk put the Bruins up 3-0 with a little puck luck when it bounced off Ryan Murray and into the net with just over two minutes to go.

Boston went on and sealed the win to punch their ticket to the playoffs beginning later this month.

UP NEXT
The Bruins are right back at it Tuesday against the Devils once again. Puck drop from Prudential Center is set for 7 p.m. ET.