Bruins 6, Predators 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jarome Iginla might be 36 years old, but the Boston Bruins' right winger can still put the puck in the net.
Iginla scored a pair of goals, including a key power-play marker to stave off a Nashville Predators comeback, as Boston registered a 6-2 win Monday night at the sold-out Bridgestone Arena.
The Bruins (25-10-2) won for the seventh time in nine games, giving coach Claude Julien his 400th win behind an NHL bench. Nashville (16-17-4) dropped its fourth straight game and is 3-7-2 in its last 12 matches.
After Predators center Craig Smith potted his 10th goal -- and second of the night -- to pull them within 3-2 at 3:25 of the third, Boston went on a 5-on-3 because of a bench minor for too many men on the ice and a cross-checking call on center Paul Gaustad.
Seventeen seconds into the two-man advantage, Iginla tapped in center David Krejci's pass at the slot to make it 4-2 at 5:01. Center Carl Soderberg bagged his fifth goal 50 seconds later off the third assist of center Ryan Spooner.
Nashville, which fell behind 3-0 after one period in Saturday night's 4-3 overtime loss, repeated that feat against the Bruins.
Iginla deflected the shot of defenseman Zdeno Chara past starting goalkeeper Carter Hutton (7-6-2) at 1:16 of the first period. That was followed by a rebound goal from right wing Matt Fraser, his first, after Hutton couldn't control the rebound of a Soderberg shot from behind the blue line at 5:59.
Backup goalie Marek Mazanec replaced Hutton, but Boston solved him quickly, too. Right winger Reilly Smith's power-play marker, his 12th of the year, at 10:47 of the first made it 3-0.
Smith's power-play tally at 11:35 of the second put the Predators on the board, but he was the only one who could get the puck past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask.
Rask (19-8-2) finished with 32 saves.
Winger Brad Marchand closed out the scoring at 15:54 with his eighth goal of the year,
NOTES: Nashville C Filip Forsberg has been loaned to Team Sweden to play in the 2014 World Junior Championships, which start later this week in Sweden. The 19-year-old Forsberg had a goal and four assists in 12 games with the Predators before being sidelined with an upper-body injury Nov. 15 in Pittsburgh. ... Boston's power-play goal in the first period Monday night came on its 98th opportunity with the extra man -- the fewest of any NHL squad. ... Nashville D Seth Jones, who sat out the last two periods and overtime of Saturday night's loss to Montreal after taking a puck off the face, was back in action Monday night. ... Bruins LW Shawn Thornton served game 8 of his 15-game suspension for his match penalty on Dec. 7 in Pittsburgh on the Penguins' Brooks Orpik. Thornton is eligible to return on Jan. 11 in San Jose.
