Bruins 2, Devils 1 (SO)
BOSTON - Brad Marchand scored in Round 6 and Tuukka Rask stopped the last five shots of the shootout to give the Bruins a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
The Bruins, improving to 5-0-1 with their second win in as many nights, forced overtime when Nathan Horton scored with 4:05 left in regulation before the teams played a scoreless five extra minutes. Both goalies then gave up a goal on the first shootout attempt but the competition went six rounds before Marchand got the puck between the legs of veteran backup goalie Johan Hedberg and Rask stopped defenseman Marek Zidlicky to give the Bruins their second shootout win of the young season.
The Bruins have earned at least one point in the first six games for the first time since starting 5-0-1 in 1970-71.
Rask improved to 10-7 in career shootouts, while Hedberg, playing in a game for the first time since last April, fell to 23-9.
The Bruins, who haven't allowed a third-period goal this season (7-0), tied the game when Horton took a return pass from David Krejci and slid his third goal in the six games past a partially screened Hedberg.
Horton, out from January on last season because of his second concussion, scored his third goal and has five points in the young season, with at least one in the last four.
Hedberg, who at 39 is a year younger than starter and future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, was perfect and not severely tested until Horton ended what would have been New Jersey's first TD Garden shutout since Brodeur pulled it off Dec. 30, 2002.
Brodeur had led the Devils to a 3-0-1 start, but New Jersey has lost its last two games in extra time.
The game was a defensive battle between two of the last four teams in the league that didn't have a regulation loss (they still don't). Last year, the Bruins, then the defending Stanley Cup champions, swept the four-game season series from the Devils, who lost to Los Angeles in the Cup finals.
The Bruins had run their season-opening streak of penalty kills to 24 straight (one in this game) when the Devils broke through at 8:30 of the second period. Zidlicky backed his way along the blue line before unleashing a screened slap shot. The puck hit Clarkson on the way and beat Rask, giving Clarkson his fourth goal of the young season and a five-game points streak.
The second period ended with New Jersey still unscathed in its five middle periods this season, the Devils outscoring their opponents 5-0 in the period in five games.
NOTES: Hedberg on his first start: "It's been a long time. I'm excited to get back and play in a game again." He was 17-7-2 with four shutouts with a career-best 2.23 goals against average last season. ... While each team had a player in Game 6 of his NHL tryout, the two young men are apparently going in different directions. The Bruins announced Monday that defenseman Dougie Hamilton is staying. However, the Devils were set to return top draft pick Stefan Matteau back to juniors. ... Matt Anderson became a 30-year-old rookie when he debuted for the Devils on Tuesday night. ... Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid returned after missing Monday night's win at Carolina due to the death of his grandmother. However, he didn't dress. ... The Bruins host the Sabres on Thursday, while the Devils host the Islanders the same night. ... The Bruins felt Carolina's Jeff Skinnner "slew-footed" Patrice Bergeron on Monday night, leading to Bergeron trying to get at Skinner. "Skinner slew-foots all the time, and he's always doing that to guys, and I think (Bergeron) just had enough of it," Marchand said. Marchand was fined $2,500 for doing the same thing to Pittsburgh's Matt Niskanen last season. ... Boston's Chris Bourque turned 27 Tuesday.
