Bruins down Predators in OT thanks to Marchand’s game-winner

The Bruins desperately wanted to put a punctuation mark on their losing stretch before it reached a season-high three games, and they did just that Thursday night against the Nashville Predators in a game that didn’t have many style points.

Brad Marchand made a head fake and then went through Mike Fisher’s legs with the puck before burying the wrist shot to give the Bruins a 3-2 overtime victory at TD Garden.

The Predators struck first when they took advantage of a sloppy line change in the second period, and Viktor Stalberg knocked in the rebound of a Mike Rusher shot to the net as Adam McQuaid and Torey Krug tried to scramble back into position.

Down 1-0 headed into the final 20 minutes of the game, the Bruins rallied to tie it on a dazzling Ryan Spooner rush up the left wing. The 21-year-old slipped by Stalberg in the defensive zone, and put on the jets until he fed Johnny Boychuk for a deadly wrist shot from the slot area for his second goal of the season.

Jarome Iginla and Milan Lucic teamed up for what was the go-ahead goal after Iggy popped a centering pass through Nashville goalie Marek Mazanec, and gave the Black and Gold a tight 2-1 lead they couldn’t hold. It also extended six-game point streaks for Iginla, Lucic and David Krejci as that red-hot line has carried the Bruins offense over the past three weeks.

Shea Weber got a blistering shot through rookie Niklas Svedberg, making his NHL debut, with 5:25 to go in the third period to push things into the extra session. Otherwise, it was a pretty solid debut for Svedberg, who stopped 33 shots while helping send it to overtime.

-- Joe Haggerty, CSNNE.com