Recap: Ducks Dig Deep to Earn 4-3 Win in Boston

In a game that seemingly had just about everything, the Ducks found a way to come out of Boston with two points following a 4-3 victory over the Bruins on Thursday night at TD Garden. After the Bruins scored twice in a 13-second span in the first period, the Ducks responded with two of their own, including a breakaway goal from a rather unlikely source - defenseman Kevin Bieksa. Andrew Cogliano opened the scoring for Anaheim, Josh Manson recorded his first goal of the season and Rickard Rakell tacked on his 12th goal in the second period to improve the Ducks' record to 16-10-5 (37 pts.) as they continue on their season-long six-game road trip. Jonathan Bernier stopped 31-of-34 shots in the win for his sixth victory of the season (6-2-1).

Zdeno Chara, Austin Czarnik and David Krejci scored for the Bruins, who fell to 16-13-3 (35 pts.) overall and 7-8-0 on home ice. Former Ducks goaltender Anton Khudobin recorded 23 saves in the loss.
This was the sixth consecutive victory against the Bruins dating to Jan. 4, 2014, giving the Ducks a 16-9-5 all-time mark against the 'B's. The win also improved the Ducks to 7-2-1 over their past 10 games, including victories in four of the past five (4-1-0).
"It was a tough game, but Berny played great behind us," said Rakell, who finished with a goal and an assist. "They played last night, so we tried to make it hard for them. This was huge for us. It's nice to get the two points."
The Bruins struck first off a blast from Chara, who unloaded a slap shot from the left point that beat Bernier over the glove for his second goal of the season. It was career goal No. 180 for the 6-foot-9, 250-pound defenseman, who yesterday appeared in his 1,300th career NHL game.
Just 13 seconds later, Boston increased its lead to two when Czarnik's one-timer from the right circle beat Bernier clean. It was the fourth goal of the season for the 24-year-old center, whose goal prompted Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle to use his lone timeout.
The timeout seemed to do the trick because the ensuing shift produced a critical goal to cut the deficit in half. After skating with the puck behind net, Cogliano curled to the left of Khudobin and threw a bad-angle shot on net that caromed off traffic in front before fluttering across the stripe.

If the three goals in a 32-second span weren't enough, one of the more unlikely sources came through with the game-tying marker for Anaheim. After exiting the penalty box behind the play, Bieksa was sprung on a breakaway and went five-hole on Khudobin to tie the game with 2:50 remaining in the opening period. Bruins head coach Claude Julien challenged the goal for a potential offside, but the call on the ice stood after a brief review.

The good vibes continued into the second period for Anaheim when Manson gave the Ducks a 3-2 lead just 55 seconds into the middle frame after banging home a rebound in the slot. It was a homecoming of sorts for the 25-year-old d-man, who played college hockey at Northeastern University in Boston.

Anaheim's lead was short-lived, however, when Krejci found a loose puck that skipped over Cam Fowler's stick and buried it shortside on the power play just 1:13 after Manson's goal.
The Ducks regained the lead shortly after when Sami Vatanen's point shot hit traffic in front before coming to rest in front of Rakell, who had a wide open net to bury his 12th goal of the season. The goal gave Rakell points in five consecutive games (3g/2a) along with eight goals in his past 12 games. With the assist, Vatanen (80) passed Lubomir Visnovsky and Ruslan Salei for sole possession of seventh on the club's all-time assist list for defensemen. When asked what the milestone assist meant to him, the affable Finn answered, "It means I'm getting older. [Laughs]. That's the only thing. I feel it in my back or something."

Bernier was at his best in a third period that was tilted heavily in Boston's favor. Perhaps his biggest saves came in the final minutes of regulation when he made consecutive stops on one-timers from Boston's leading goal scorer David Pastrnak, and then again on defenseman Torey Krug, who unloaded a snap shot at the top of the left circle.
A faceoff win with under eight seconds remaining in the defensive zone allowed Vatanen to successfully send it down the ice as the clock expired, giving the Ducks a hard-earned 4-3 victory.