BOSTON — After falling behind 2-0 to the New Jersey Devils a little over a minute into the second period, the Bruins snapped out of their funk and poured in five unanswered goals for a 5-2 victory and second straight win.
David Pastrnak provided two goals, which isn’t anything new. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk netted two, also, which was more than a little unexpected. Jake DeBrusk followed his two-point night in Buffalo Wednesday with two more points, including his first goal in exactly a month.
In net Linus Ullmark stopped 31 of 33 shots against him.
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Here are five takeaways from the win:
1) Shattenkirk the unlikely scoring star.
Kevin Shattenkirk came into the game with two goals this season. Then, in the span of about 20 minutes, he doubled that total.
With the Bruins ahead by a goal, 3-2, Shattenkirk took a cross-ice feed from defense partner Matt Grzelcyk and ripped home a wrister from the right faceoff circle.
Then, with the Bruins leading by two late in the third, Shattenkirk struck again — this time on the power play, with assists from Brad Marchand and Pastrnak.
“He’s gained a lot of confidence in how we want to play,’’ said coach Jim Montgomery of the veteran defenseman. “His brain is elite, so it allows him to get into advantageous spots. And that’s what we’re seeing in him, a difference in him now.”
The first goal had added significance for Shattenkirk, as it was the 100th of his 14-year career.
“It felt great,” said Shattenkirk. “I don’t think I was going into every game expecting to hit (the milestone). I’m not Pasta. If I don’t have a goal in a game, I’m not like, ‘Damn, i didn’t get my 100th goal tonight.’ But you know it’s going to come eventually. I just stuck with it, and once it happened, it’s a great milestone, something I’m proud of. My teammates showed a lot of love for me as well, which is always heartwarming.”
2) There was no panic getting down by two goals.
The Devils have a lot of speed up front, and even though they were playing the second half of a back-to-back, showed a lot of jump early, grabbing a lead just 6:03 into the first before adding to the lead in in the first minute of the second period.
But the Bruins didn’t get overwhelmed by the deficit.
“Loved the response of the bench,” said Montgomery. “We felt like we were playing our game, we felt like we were playing to our identity and we felt like we were playing Bruins hockey. And that played itself out. Players were competing. I thought we were physical tonight. And I thought, because we were physical, our puck support was getting to it. I thought the second period was the best second period we’ve had all season.”
Pastrnak said the Bruins’ strategy involved a strong forecheck to wear down the Devils, playing for the second straight night. The gameplan worked, and it didn’t take until the third period for it to manifest itself, either.
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3) Charlie McAvoy survives a scare.
The Bruins have been dealing with some injuries of late and for a while in the third, it appeared as though they had another when McAvoy, attempting to break up a two-on-one, collided into goaltender Linus Ullmark as he went diving to intercept a pass.
McAvoy lay motionless for a bit, and appeared to have been hurt, but eventually skated off and was cleared.
“He’s fine,’’ said Jim Montgomery. “I think he just had a little bit of a scare with a burner or stinger of some sort. I don’t know where it was. But he’s walking around and he’s happy right now. So we’re good.”
4) Merkulov’s debut a success.
Georgii Merkulov made his NHL debut, as the Bruins summoned him from their AHL affiliate in Providence, hoping that he could bring some offense to their bottom six.
Merkulov centered the third line, with wings Trent Frederic and James Van Riemsdyk, and while he didn’t collect a point, he acquitted himself well. Merkulov got 15:08 of ice time and recorded three faceoff wins.
“Good,” summarized Montgomery. “He did a lot of good things. I didn’t play him (much) down the stretch just because we were looking to close out the game. As soon as we closed out the game (with the fifth goal), I put him back out there. He played a good game.”
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5) Pastrnak delivers per usual.
It was just another night for the Bruins’ top scorer, who potted two second period goals in the span of less than three minutes. Those tallies gave him 22 goals for the season.
On the first one, he slipped behind New Jersey goalie Vitek Vanecek and tucked in a loose puck in the crease. Then, he took a nice backhand feed from Jake DeBrusk while the Bruins enjoyed a man advantage, giving them a 4-2 lead.
“You’re on the bench and you’re excited, like, ‘What’s he going to do next?’ “ said Montgomery. “He makes it look pretty nice.”
