Bruins Beat Devils 4-1
NEWARK, N.J. -- Center Ryan Spooner and right winger Kevin Hayes scored 13 minutes, 46 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Boston Bruins to a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Friday.
Left winger Frank Vatrano and defenseman Colin Miller also scored for Boston, which won for the first time since Dec. 29. Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson made 19 saves for the Bruins (21-14-4), who improved to 12-3-2 away from home.
Despite goaltender Cory Schneider 27-save performance, New Jersey (20-17-5) lost its third straight game.
Right winger Bobby Farnham scored the Devils' lone goal.
The Bruins did not have the appearance of a team that had lost two straight, and five of their last six. Boston led for almost the entirety of the game following Vatrano's goal 2:02 into the match.
The sequence began with New Jersey defenseman Eric Gelinas attempting to clear the puck from the defensive zone, but his pass was intercepted inside the blue line Miller, who fired a shot toward Schneider. While New Jersey defenseman Jon Merrill was battling Hayes, Vatrano slipped in and wristed a quick shot for his sixth goal in 24 games.
Boston continued its in-game trend of scoring quick, period-opening goals when Spooner's wrist shot from the blueline eluded Schneider 4:49 into the second to make it 2-0.
New Jersey cut the deficit in half on Farnham's goal at 11:57. The waiver-wire pickup raced up the right wing side and whipped a shot from the circle for his sixth of the season in 24 games.
Farnham's goal was only New Jersey's second in their last three games. The Devils lost all three by an aggregate 7-2 to Detroit, Montreal and Boston.
Boston took advantage of the malfunctioning New Jersey attack, and went into the second intermission with a 3-1 lead after Hayes' power-play goal with 1:25 left in the period. With right winger Paul Thompson serving a two-minute minor for tripping Boston defenseman Zach Trotman, Hayes tipped defenseman Zdeno Chara's point shot to allow the Bruins to regain a two-goal advantage.
Boston finished 1-3 on the man advantage, and killed both of New Jersey's power plays.
Miller's left side slap shot 6:33 into the third pushed the advantage to 4-1.
NOTES: Devils LW Tuomo Ruutu was placed on the injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 6 with a lower-body injury. The Devils also assigned RW Mike Sislo to AHL Albany and called up D Marc-Andre Gragnani, C Jim O'Brien and RW Paul Thompson. ... Boston scratched D Joe Morrow and RW Tyler Randell. LW Brad Marchand sat out the final game of his three-game suspension for clipping Ottawa D Mark Borowiecki on Dec. 29. ... New Jersey scratched D John Moore, D David Schlemko and C Tyler Kennedy. ... In a joint statement with Jerilyn and Dennis Laing, National Women's Hockey League commissioner Dani Rylan, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson and the Kraft family, owner of the NFL's New England Patriots, Bruins president Cam Neely offered "the full support of the Boston Bruins" to Boston Pride F Denna Laing, who "suffered a significant spinal injury during last Thursday's Outdoor Women's Classic at Gillette Stadium," the NWHL wrote in a release Friday.
