Bruins Bounce Back Big With Win vs. Devils

NEWARK - The Bruins entered the trip to New Jersey coming off 5-3 loss to Edmonton on Thursday night, giving up 3 goals in the final 20 minutes of play. Coach Bruce Cassidy hoped the "sour taste" of the first loss at home would be motivation to get the win over the Devils, who were coming off three strong wins.
And motivate it did, as the B's executed and impressed until the clock ran out with a 5-2 victory on Saturday afternoon at Prudential Center.

Cassidy had nothing but praise for his top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak, who combined for three of Boston's five goals and chipped in two points apiece.
"I don't know if luxury is the word," said Cassidy. "Bergy and Marchy both penalty kill, they all play on the power play, they all can play in any situation, 4-on-4, overtime, they are a line that's used to playing in key moments."
But more importantly, it is not the elite level of play that puts the B's top line above the others but the leadership that places this group above the rest.
"The better part of it is you have most of your leadership group on that line as well, they know how to settle guys down at the bench, get the game back, and lead on the bench and encourage," said Cassidy.
Something most Bruins fans could assume, but don't get the chance to see, is the dedication and hard work that trio puts in at practice.
"The work ethic in practice, they do everything right," said Cassidy. "For me that is not the case for every top line, that's why we are fortunate to have those guys as people and leading."

One players, in particular, who couldn't wait to get the sour taste of Thursday's loss to Edmonton out of his mouth was Marchand as he scored two goals, both in the second period to put Boston up, 3-1. Being the leader he is, he gave credit to the effort the team was able to put forth across a complete 60 minutes.
"We did a great job at responding and taking care of business," said Marchand, before making a point to mention how important that third period was. "I really like the way we play we continued to play hard in the third."
For Marchand and the Bruins, while the win is great, the focus is always on ways to continue to improve.
"We had a pretty good game, but there's times we [as a line] got on each other for needing to be better in situations," said Marchand. "We aren't light on each other, I love the way we want to hold each other to a high accountability, if you don't do your best you let the others down."
Marchand will take the win, and was happy to have fun with his linemates while doing it.
"We have a lot of fun out there, our chemistry has come a long way," said Marchand.

Here's some other news and notes from the B's win over New Jersey:
Third Period Redemption: When it came to the third period, the Bruins knew they had to sustain. Energy was surely carried over for the final 20 and the final score certainly shows that.
Bergeron followed up on David Pastrnak's drive to extend Boston's lead to 4-2 with 9:11 to go in the third. Jake DeBrusk then took full advantage of the empty net and put one in with just 56 seconds left on the clock.
"I think it all happened in the third," said Cassidy. "You get the empty netter and all of a sudden you're up three goals, you extend the lead. If you could script it as a coach that's how you would want to do it."
This type of play was exactly what the Bruins needed heading into another tough matchup tomorrow night vs Montreal.
Haula's First Of Many:Erik Haula potted his first goal as a Bruin tonight to open up the scoring with just 2:23 left in the first period.
"It felt good for sure, definitely could have had a few already, I have had a few good chances," said Haula.
Like his teammates, the focus is always on moving forward.
"Can forget about that one and look forward to the second one," said Haula.

Swayman Stays Steady:Jeremy Swayman had 27 saves on 29 stops in the B's victory, one of which resulted in Marchand's second goal under 10 seconds after the save at the other end.
"It's the best feeling ever, whenever you can do your part and see guys do theirs it's a great feeling," said Swayman.