|
 He also recognizes the Bruins have an opportunity to make up ground
against the teams that Boston sees on a regular basis.
"We're in a battle here with a lot of teams in our division and we
have some games in hand," Julien said after center Ryan Spooner and
right winger Kevin Hayes scored 13:46 apart in the second period to
lead the Bruins to a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday
night at the Prudential Center.
"These are the kind of games you have to win when you have games in
hand to try and get back into that upper group."
Left winger Frank Vatrano and defenseman Colin Miller also scored
for Boston, which won for the first time since Dec. 29. Goaltender
Jonas Gustavsson made 19 saves for the Bruins (21-14-4), who
improved to 12-3-2 away from home. The win also the 3,000th in
franchise history.
"When you look at 3,000, it means that team has been around for a
while," Julien said. "I've always been proud of being a part of an
Original Six team and this team has done a lot of things in the past
and we hope we can follow that up in the future."
While the Bruins hope the win is the start of a surge to the Stanley
Cup playoffs, the Devils find themselves reeling. New Jersey
(20-17-5) lost its third straight game.
"We're definitely fighting it," said goaltender Cory Schneider, who
made 27 saves.
Right winger Bobby Farnham scored the Devils' goal.
"We didn't get to those hard areas," said right winger Jordin
Tootoo, whose first-period fight with Boston left winger Zac Rinaldo
was one of the few events to cause the announced sellout crowd of
16,514 to cheer.
The Bruins did not have the appearance of a team that had lost two
straight and five of their last six. Boston led for almost the
entire night after Vatrano's goal 2:02 into the game.
"Goal scoring has never been an issue for us," Julien said.
The sequence began with New Jersey defenseman Eric Gelinas
attempting to clear the puck from the defensive zone, but his pass
was intercepted inside the blue line by Miller, who fired a shot
toward Schneider. While New Jersey defenseman Jon Merrill was
battling Hayes, Vatrano slipped in and wristed a quick shot for his
sixth goal in 24 games.
Boston continued its in-game trend of scoring quick, period-opening
goals when Spooner's wrist shot from the blue line eluded Schneider
4:49 into the second period to make it 2-0.
"We played well," Julien said. "Had good net front presence and the
first three goals were proof of that."
New Jersey cut the deficit in half on Farnham's goal at 11:57. The
waiver-wire pickup raced up the right wing and whipped a shot from
the circle for his sixth of the season in 24 games.
[to top of second column] |
Farnham's goal was only New Jersey's second in their last three
games. The Devils lost all three by an aggregate 7-2 to Detroit,
Montreal and Boston.
"Part of an 82-game season. Sometimes it goes a little dry," Farnham
said of the Devils' offensive drought before explaining he "tried to
shoot low blocker" on Gustavsson.
Boston took advantage of the malfunctioning New Jersey attack and
went into the second intermission with a 3-1 lead after Hayes'
power-play goal with 1:25 left in the period. With right winger Paul
Thompson serving a two-minute minor for tripping Boston defenseman
Zach Trotman, Hayes tipped defenseman Zdeno Chara's point shot to
allow the Bruins to regain a two-goal advantage.
Boston finished 1-3 on the man advantage and killed both of New
Jersey's power plays.
Miller's left-side slap shot 6:33 into the third pushed the
advantage to 4-1.
"We needed to play with more urgency and start with good forecheck,"
Chara said. "I thought for most part we did a good job.
"Nice win against a good team that played hard."
NOTES: Devils LW Tuomo Ruutu was placed on the injured reserve
retroactive to Jan. 6 with a lower-body injury. The Devils also
assigned RW Mike Sislo to AHL Albany and called up D Marc-Andre
Gragnani, C Jim O'Brien and RW Paul Thompson. ... Boston scratched D
Joe Morrow and RW Tyler Randell. LW Brad Marchand sat out the final
game of his three-game suspension for clipping Ottawa D Mark
Borowiecki on Dec. 29. ... New Jersey scratched D John Moore, D
David Schlemko and C Tyler Kennedy. ... In a joint statement with
Jerilyn and Dennis Laing, National Women's Hockey League
commissioner Dani Rylan, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Montreal
Canadiens owner Geoff Molson and the Kraft family, owner of the
NFL's New England Patriots, Bruins president Cam Neely offered "the
full support of the Boston Bruins" to Boston Pride F Denna Laing,
who "suffered a significant spinal injury during last Thursday's
Outdoor Women's Classic at Gillette Stadium," the NWHL wrote in a
release Friday.
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