Top Dogs Deliver In B's Bounce Back Win

CALGARY, Alberta - Perhaps the biggest reason for the Bruins' success this season has been the balanced contributions the team has received from throughout the lineup. From its fourth line, to its five rookies, to its championship-tested core, everyone has chipped in at crucial moments.
But sometimes a team needs to lean on its leaders, particularly after the way things turned out in Vancouver on Saturday night.

Following what may be the team's ugliest loss of the season, Boston needed a rebound. And the Bruins' top dogs made sure to deliver.
Brad Marchand potted the winner in overtime and David Pastrnak snapped a six-game goal-less drought as the Bruins slipped by the Calgary Flames, 2-1, on Monday afternoon at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
"They're our leaders and they're our leaders for a reason," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "We rely on them. We've been a good hockey club because of the support we've gotten throughout the lineup, we have a lot of double-digit scorers.
"They don't have to score every night, but sooner or later they're going to have to chip in and get the goals for us. Tonight was the night. We'll see what happens tomorrow."

Boston also received a monster night from Tuukka Rask. The ace netminder, who was pulled after allowing four goals on eight shots in the first period on Saturday, made 28 huge stops - including a handful in the extra session, highlighted by stellar back-to-back saves on Sam Bennett midway through the frame.
"He saw a 2-on-1 on the first shift of the game and a breakaway the second and that was it for a while," said Cassidy. "We dodged those bullets and I thought we were pretty tight after that. He was good. Like the rest of our group, he wanted to respond as well. It wasn't his best in Vancouver. He certainly did his part and we eventually got the winner for him."
Marchand has accounted for both of Boston's overtime winners this seasons, with the other coming against Detroit in December. Monday's goal started with a strong defensive effort in the B's end from Riley Nash, who broke up a Matthew Tkachuk pass before springing Marchand loose on a breakaway.
"Nasher made a phenomenal defensive play and got in between [T.J.] Brodie and [Johnny] Gaudreau and broke it up," said Marchand. "I knew they had three guys low and just tried to get it out of the zone. Nasher made a great play to get it up. Really all I was worried about was trying to get away from Brodie, he's such a fast skater. Trying to stay ahead of him."
Marchand succeeded in keeping his distance from the Calgary defenseman and buried a silky backhander through the five-hole of David Rittich to clinch the win with 1:24 remaining in the extra session.
"I wasn't really looking to make a move until I got a lot closer to the net…that all kind of determined whether you're gonna shoot or make a deke," said Marchand, who snapped a five-game goal-less drought. "Luckily when I got in there, I had enough speed and room and it went in."

It was Boston's first tally since early in the first period when Pastrnak snapped his own five-game goal drought 5:59 into the game. After pressure from Patrice Bergeron along the boards led to a Calgary turnover, Pastrnak scooped up the loose puck and ripped a shot short side on Rittich to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
"It feels good. Every time you get back on the board it's nice," said Pastrnak. "Overall, it's 2 points we got and that's most important…great bounce back for us."
That it was. A game after allowing six goals, the Bruins limited Calgary to 29 shots - with just 12 coming over the game's first 40 minutes. The Flames' tallied their lone goal with Matthew Tkachuk's power-play marker at 5:28 of the second.
"We were real good defensively, even the third for the most part," said Cassidy. "We had a few turnovers and they pushed. We got pucks into the middle of the ice towards our net. It was a good response from what we saw the other night and the last few games, where we were much more responsible."
When the chances did come - Calgary fired 17 shots on Rask during the third period and overtime - Rask was there to lock things down.
"Just stay patient. There's gonna be chances in the OT, try to stay big and focused and hope that the puck hits you and today it did," said Rask. "Very good, very good [defensively]. They pushed hard in the third there, the second part, for sure. But we handled it and got a nice breakaway goal in the overtime."

With the victory, Boston - which avoided its first back-to-back losses since mid-December - once again closed to within 1 point of the Tampa Bay Lighting for the Atlantic Division lead.
"If we can continue to sustain that [defensive play] for 60 minutes every night we're going to be a really good team, we're going to be hard to play against," said Marchand. "And that's kind of where we were when we put that big streak together. Continue to get back to that game and we'll be good."

Carlo Rebounds

It was a particularly strong bounce-back game for Brandon Carlo. After a minus-4 showing in Boston's loss to Vancouver on Saturday night, the 21-year-old blue liner was a plus-1 against Calgary in 21:07 of ice time.
"Very much so, just to reboot the confidence a little bit for myself, show that I care a lot," said Carlo. "Wanted to go out there and have another kick at the can. Appreciated the opportunity today. Overall, you can't get too down or too high, just trying to stay consistent."