Bruins Wrap: Boston Delivers In Third Period To Beat Predators

The Boston Bruins drummed up a timely answer in the third period to earn a 3-0 shutout win over the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night.

The Bruins widened their lead atop the Atlantic Division over the Florida Panthers (99 points) with a 44-17-15 (103 points) record while the Predators dropped to 43-28-4.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Bruins struggled to find the back of the net all night against the Predators. A power play should have been the right medicine for Boston’s offensive troubles, but it wasn’t.

Instead, the Bruins going on the penalty kill turned out to be what they needed to score.

It looked like the Predators were in a great position to break a scoreless deadlock when they went on the man-advantage due to a Mason Lohrei hooking penalty with 8:27 left in the final frame. But the Bruins took over the game from that point on.

And Boston’s problems with closing out games never surfaced, either. Perhaps third-period play will become a strong suit for the Bruins when they need it most.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Charlie Coyle delivered the shorthanded goal with 6:42 left to put the Bruins in front. Coyle took a pass from Brad Marchand before going in all alone on Juuse Saros and beating the Nashville netminder’s top shelf.

A CC SHORTY. pic.twitter.com/dgbyf7nfsa

— x – Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 3, 2024

— Linus Ullmark was tremendous between the pipes for the Bruins. He made 32 stops, including some of the highlight-reel variety, in the win. It was his second shutout of the season, and he also tallied an assist on Coyle’s goal.

— Pavel Zacha provided an insurance goal exactly four minutes after Coyle scored. He also notched an assist on David Pastrnak’s empty-net goal for a two-point night.

WAGER WATCH
FanDuel Sportsbook set the odds of Marchand registering an assist at +118. He came through on the penalty kill as a $100 wager on the prop bet would have netted a total of $228.

UP NEXT
The Bruins close out their six-game road trip Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop from PNC Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.