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David Pastrnak and Kevin Shattenkirk each score twice to lift Bruins over Devils 5-2
BOSTON (AP) — David Pastrnak scored two of Boston’s four second-period goals, Kevin Shattenkirk recorded his 100th and 101st career goals and the Boston Bruins rallied for a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
Jake DeBrusk also had a goal during the second-period scoring burst and Linus Ullmark stopped 31 shots for Boston, which posted its second straight win after a four-game losing streak. Charlie Coyle added a pair of assists.
Luke Hughes and Nico Hischier scored for the Devils, who had their three-game winning streak stopped. Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves and Tyler Toffoli had two assists.
Boston star defenseman Charlie McAvoy left the ice late in the game, favoring his left leg, after crashing into Ullmark hustling back on a Devils’ 2-on-1 break.
“He's fine,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “I think he just had a little bit of a scare with a burner or a stinger of some sort. I don't know where it was but he's walking around. He's happy right now.”
Trailing 2-0, the Bruins scored four goals in just under 12 minutes.
“I just think it was nice, honestly, having a reset and just having some time away from the game,” DeBrusk said of the Christmas break before the consecutive wins.
DeBrusk got it going when he took a pass in the slot from Brad Marchand, shifted around Vanecek and tucked a backhander in at 5:35.
Pastrnak then went to work, scoring his team-leading 21st and 22nd in a 2:48 span.
On the first, he was cutting to the net from the right wing when Brandon Carlo’s shot from the left point was tipped and sailed over near the winger. He redirected it at the back of Vanecek’s pads before tapping a backhander into the net when the goalie didn’t seem to know that puck was behind him.
Pastrnak’s go-ahead goal came on the power play when he was skating in hard from the right wing, collected a pass from DeBrusk and shifted before putting a backhander into the net at 15:39.
“You're on the bench and you're excited: 'What's he going to do next?'" Montgomery said. “He just went for a simple, traditional backhand goal around the far post, but he makes it look pretty nice.”
Pastrnak saw the goalie make a move and changed his mind quickly.
“I think he challenged me forward,” Pastrnak said. “I was thinking about shooting high glove, had a quick look, had a lot of speed. It's hard for the goaltender to follow me all the way to the far post.”
After he scored, Pastrnak spread his arms wide before pumping his left fist as he skated to the bench.
Shattenkirk’s 100th came on a wrister from the right circle at 17:14. He added a power-play score with less three minutes left after being set up by Pastrnak.
Playing their second straight night, Hughes scored just 71 seconds into the middle period to give the Devils a 2-0 edge after Hischier’s power-play goal 6:03 into the game.
“We let Pastrnak walk right in and he took advantage of a tough change,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said of Boston's go-ahead score.
Boston’s 23-year-old center Georgii Merkulov made his NHL debut, and Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk collected an assist in his return after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
UP NEXT
Devils: At the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.
Bruins: At the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
