Bergeron's late goal lifts Bruins past Flames

BOSTON -- Patrice Bergeron scored a tie-breaking power-play goal with 3:24 remaining in the third period to give the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win against the Calgary Flames at TD Garden on Tuesday.
Calgary was assessed a bench minor for having too many men on the ice with 4:07 to play. The Bruins' power play had been 0-for-4 and hadn't scored in a goal in Boston's previous four games. But Bergeron capitalized on Boston's fifth chance of the night when he beat Joni Ortio with a one-timer from the high slot after a pass from the right half-wall by Ryan Spooner.
It was Bergeron's 24th goal of the season.

"I think tonight was one of those games where we needed to come up big ... we had to make a play at some time," Bergeron said. "It was late in the game and it was an important goal, obviously. I think we had a few good looks and chances, but at the end of the day you've got to bear down and put the puck in the back of the net."

Tuukka Rask made 24 saves and Landon Ferraro scored in the first period for Boston (35-23-6), which is 1-1-0 halfway through its four-game homestand.
Rookie defenseman Jakub Nakladal scored his first NHL goal and Ortio made 23 saves for the Flames (26-33-4), who are 0-5-1 in their past six games and 1-8-1 in their past 10.
The game marked the return of former Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton, Boston's first-round pick (No. 9) in the 2011 NHL Draft. Hamilton was traded to Calgary for draft picks on June 26, 2015. He played 19:16, had two shots on goal and finished minus-1.
"Pretty cool, I think," Hamilton said of his return. "A lot of time spent here. A lot of memories. It brings back lots of good memories and stuff, so it was pretty cool but I guess a lot of fun."

Nakladal tied the score 1-1 at 5:35 of the third period. Jyrki Jokipakka, acquired from the Dallas Stars at the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday, fed the puck across the blue line at the end of a long shift in the Boston zone, and Nakladal beat Rask with a one-timer from the top of the left circle high to the stick side.
But that was all the offense the Flames were able to produce. Calgary's 29th-ranked power play went 0-for-4.
"We weren't good enough," said Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau, who had his eight-game assist streak ended. "We've been struggling all year. That's what it comes down to. They get a power-play goal and we don't, and they get the win."
The Bruins were outshot 8-5 in the first period but scored the only goal. Ferraro came off the bench and headed toward the net. Brett Connolly kept the puck in at the left point and fed it along the wall to Torey Krug, who found Ferraro for a slap shot from between the circles that beat Ortio at 7:05 for a 1-0 lead.

"I think it was big," Ferraro said. "We were sitting there for a while with everything going on and it was our first shift and to get that one out of the way was nice. I thought we had a lot of speed and we were playing pretty well. So we were happy with it."
Rask preserved the tie with a point-blank stop on Sean Monahan with 45 seconds remaining in the period.
During a Calgary power play early in the second period, Rask robbed Mikael Backlund with a left pad save after Backlund retrieved a blocked shot near the right post.
The Bruins moved into third place in the Atlantic Division with 76 points, one more than the Detroit Red Wings, who have played one fewer game.

"It's big points that we need," Bergeron said. "I thought we didn't generate enough shots early on. In the third it was way better and you could see and could tell we were more assertive with our plays and making better decisions and putting more pucks on net. But the two points were really important for us. It was something that we talked about before the game, that we know how hard the schedule is coming and how important and how tight the standings are."
The Bruins' homestand continues against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, the same night the Flames continue their road trip at the Buffalo Sabres.