Bruins use shootout to defeat Devils in opener, spoil Ruff debut as coach

NEWARK, N.J. --Brad Marchand scored two points and the deciding goal in the shootout, and the Boston Bruins defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-2 at Prudential Center on Thursday in the season opener for each team.

Marchand had a goal and an assist, and Nick Ritchie scored for Boston. Tuukka Rask made 20 saves and stopped Nikita Gusev, Jesper Boqvist and Jack Hughes in the shootout.
Rask denied Kyle Palmieri on a breakaway with 1:15 remaining in overtime and then stopped Hughes on a breakaway with five seconds left.
"[Tuukka's] one of the best goalies in the League and he's the backbone to our team," Marchand said. "Every great team has a great goalie, and that's what we need out of him if we want to go all the way this year. We need him to be big, and he was tonight. That's what he does, even when the game gets a little rough for us, he's calming, and when you see that out of your goalie, when he's making the big save, it allows you to kind of calm down and get back on track, and we had that tonight."

Ty Smith scored in his NHL debut, Miles Wood scored, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 35 saves for New Jersey. Lindy Ruff lost his debut as New Jersey coach.
It was the Devils' first game in 310 days. They were not among the 24 teams in the NHL Return to Play Plan after last season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
The teams play at Prudential Center on Saturday.
"I liked that we were able to fight back," Ruff said. "We were determined to get back in the game. And, you know, if you look at the overtime, we had the better chances to win it in overtime. And I think if we compete that hard and skate as well as we did in the second and third, we're going to be OK."
Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 17:40 of the first period. David Krejci took a pass from Patrice Bergeron and skated low into the right face-off circle before passing to Marchand near the left post for a deflection.
Wood tied it 1-1 on a breakaway at 8:51 of the third period.
"We let a lead get away in the third period and that's not a road we want to go down," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I know it was only a one-goal lead, but still we've got to play winning hockey again, and I don't think we did in the third at times and we paid the price. It's a good teaching moment for us and still able to get the two points. It's nice, but that's an area that we're going to have to clean up."

Ritchie gave Boston a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 13:12.
Smith, a defenseman selected by the Devils in the first round (No. 17) of the 2018 NHL Draft, tied it 2-2 when his shot from the left point deflected off Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy at 13:46.
"We looked tight and looked like we hadn't played in 10 months," Ruff said. "And [Blackwood] stood tall for us, obviously gave us a chance in the second and third. And I thought our game really came around the last couple of periods."
NOTES: Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller (two hits, 16:49 of ice time) played his first game since April 4, 2019. He injured his knee in a game at the Minnesota Wild that day and had four surgeries. ... Boston extended its point streak against New Jersey to six games (5-0-1) dating to March 2, 2019. … Defensemen Ryan Murray (22:43) and Dmitry Kulikov (two hits, two blocked shots), and forward Andreas Johnsson (two takeaways) each made his Devils debut. New Jersey forward Yegor Sharangovich (two shots on goal, 17:23) made his NHL debut. ... The Devils were 0-for-5 on the power play.