A brutal second period negated a good start for the Bruins, who never recoved.
Things came apart in a hurry in the middle frame. The Bruins didn’t react well to two calls against them that they didn’t like and the Devils took advantage delivering an early knockout blow. They became the latest struggling team to get right against Boston, beating the Bruins, 5-1, Wednesday at the Prudential Center in Newark.
The Bruins won’t have long to lick their wounds. They host Ottawa in a game with potential playoff implications on Thursday at TD Garden.
The attention that David Pastrnak’s recent success has warranted from opposing defenses helped create the Bruins’ opening goal. After Pavel Zacha recovered the puck to keep it in the offensive zone, he fed Pastrnak on the right side in good shooting position.
But Pastrnak saw Morgan Geekie setting up in the opposite circle and fed him the puck. Jacob Markstrom couldn’t get back across the crease fast enough to stop Geekie’s one-timer that gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead, 5:50 into the game.
The Devils, who won just twice in 10 games coming in, took control of the game in the second. Dawson Mercer tied the game 1:24 into the second period. New Jersey took the lead after losing Markstrom shortly after. Justin Brazeau crashed into the Devil goalie as he tried to go to the net. He protested that Brenden Dillon had tripped him causing the collision, but the referees didn’t see it that way. While he went to the penalty box, Markstrom struggled to get up.
He had to be helped off the ice with an apparent leg injury as Jake Allen took over. But on the ensuing power play, Dougie Hamilton beat Jeremy Swayman to put the home team up 2-1, 4:12 into the second.
After another Bruins’ protested penalty led to another power-play goal for the Devils, New Jersey scored its second in 12 seconds to make it 4-1 after the second period essentially putting the game out of reach before the third period even started.
With a game that could have playoff implications looming on Thursday, Sacco replaced Swayman with Joonas Korpisalo. Lifting Swayman, who had stopped 25 shots through two periods, likely at least gives Sacco the option of starting him again against the Senators.
Allen was terrific in relief with 16 saves for the Devils.
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