Bruins 2, Flames 0
BOSTON -- Tuukka Rask stopped 21 shots for his third shutout of the season and defenseman Zdeno Chara scored two power-play goals as the Boston Bruins returned from a four-game road trip with a 2-0 victory over the Calgary Flames on a snowy Tuesday night.
The second win over the Flames in eight days gave the Bruins five wins in their last six games. Boston is 11-3-1 in their last 15 games.
Rask, who had very little in the way of touch chances, pitched his 19th career shutout.
Chara scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season, both coming with left winger Lance Bouma in the penalty box -- two separate high-sticking infractions totaling all six Calgary penalty minutes in the game.
Center David Krejci and right wing Jarome Iginla assisted on both goals for the Bruins, who scored two third-period goals to beat the Flames 2-1 in Calgary last Tuesday.
The Bruins, as is often the case coming off a trip, were not great, but they did not have to be, beating Calgary for the fifth straight time.
The Flames came in having not scored a goal in Boston since Oct. 19, 2006. But the shutout streak was just 129:36, and that really didn't impress Calgary coach Bob Hartley.
"Elvis is dead and the Beatles broke up," Hartley said before the game.
His team then went out and was blanked for the third straight full game in Boston. The streak is now 189:36.
There was one stretch bridging the first and second periods that saw the Flames go without an even-strength shot for 23:33.
Bouma was given a double minor for high sticking Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller, with the penalty coming at 5:23 of the second period. The Flames killed the first two minutes, but Krejci found Chara on the right side for a blast that hit goalie Reto Berra but went through his pads.
Bouma was off again 2:25 into the third period when Chara, parked in front, converted the rebound of an Iginla shot. Kreji was the one who got the puck to Iginla.
It was just minutes earlier that Chara himself had been felled by a high stick, by center Matt Stajan, in front of the Bruins net. No penalty was called and Chara was OK, with no blood shed.
Stajan had his team's best chance of the first two periods. That came early in the game, when a weird series of bounces created a chance for him in front. But Rask made the save.
With heavy snow falling outside, the crowd was slow to arrive, but TD Garden filled up as the night went on.
NOTES: Calgary C Mike Cammalleri was sent back to the hotel during the morning skate because of an illness and didn't play. The last time he visited Boston, while with the Montreal Canadiens, he was traded to Calgary during the game. ... Bruins RW Jarome Iginla played against his former team despite a dislocated left ring finger suffered in a fight in Vancouver last Saturday. ... Bruins RW Shawn Thornton will appeal his 15-game suspension to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. If the appeal is denied, then he can go before arbitrators. ... The Flames continue their five-game road trip at Detroit Thursday, while the Bruins are in Buffalo the same night, the start of a home-and-home that moves to Boston Saturday. ... The Bruins recalled winger Craig Cunningham Monday, and he made his NHL debut, with RW Matt Fraser joining the lengthy Boston injured list. ... The Bruins, in their 90th year, are honoring past decades. Tuesday night, it was the 80s, with Terry O'Reilly dropping the first puck.
