Patrice Bergeron helps Bruins top Devils

BOSTON-- Center Patrice Bergeron scored with 1:15 remaining in his season debut and linemate Brad Marchand also scored when the Boston Bruins came from behind to defeat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 at TD Garden on Thursday.
Bergeron missed the first three games of the regular season with a lower-body injury.
"You want to start on a good note, and especially at home, we talked about our home record the last few years. We want to do the job especially here early in the first game. It's one step but we're happy with it," Bergeron said.

Goaltender Tuukka Rask made 28 saves for the Bruins (3-1-0) in their home opener.
Marchand protected the puck behind the Bruins net and passed it out to Bergeron for the game-winning goal.

The Bruins killed off a 6-on-4 power play in the last 50 seconds.
Kyle Palmieri scored on the power play and goaltender Cory Schneider made 34 saves for New Jersey (1-2-1).
"Obviously [Schneider] played a great game, he stood on his head and made some huge stops," Palmieri said. "But I don't think we accomplished what our game plan was and when you do that and you're lucky enough to have a lead in the third period, it's a tough pill to swallow, not getting any points out of it."
The Devils took a 1-0 lead in the third period. After defenseman Damon Severson hustled toward the right boards to keep the puck in the offensive zone, he passed it cross ice to Palmieri, who wound up for a slap shot. The shot deflected off the left skate of Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo, who was down on one knee, and beat Rask through his five-hole at 4:14.
The Bruins have allowed the first goal in all four of their games this season.

Moments later, Schneider made an in-tight save on forward David Backes and then the Devils killed a minor penalty to keep it 1-0.
The Bruins tied it 1-1 on Marchand's goal at 9:47 of the third.
"I thought their transition game was good and we knew that before the game started but we told our guys that we needed to be patient and play our game and it wasn't going to be a high-scoring game," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "But we had to really stay with it and I thought our guys did a really good job. Unfortunately they got that first goal again, but I liked our response after that."

Goal of the game

Marchand sent a wrist shot from the top of the right circle, through defenseman Andy Greene's legs and past Schneider to the far post just over the blocker of Schneider.

Save of the game

Schneider briefly kept the Devils in the lead when he denied Backes' point-blank backhand shot 6:19 into the third period.

Highlight of the game

The Bruins limited the Devils to two shots on goal after New Jersey pulled Schneider, including 50 seconds of a 6-on-4 power play. Carlo blocked two shots during the penalty kill.

Unsung moment of the game

Bruins right wing David Pastrnak won a battle in the corner against Devils defenseman Ben Lovejoy to keep Boston's possession alive before moving the puck to Marchand to set up Bergeron's game-winner.

They said it

"Yeah, I had a wide-open net and just rushed it. Got a little bit too excited and missed the whole net. So you know whether that would have been a difference in the game or not, I'm not sure. ... But you want to put those in no matter what time the game is or what the score is." -- Devils forward Taylor Hall on his missed attempt at scoring on an empty net 3:44 into the third period
"But those shifts you start in your defensive zone, get into the offensive zone, get some shots and then leave the next line with something good. We were able to do that and I think the whole night was just a testament to sticking with it." -- Bruins right wing David Backes on his first game playing with center David Krejci and left wing Danton Heinen

Need to know

Bruins legends Bobby Orr and Milt Schmidt dropped the ceremonial first puck as part of a celebration of the 50th and 70th anniversary of their rookie NHL seasons, respectively. ... Devils forward Sergey Kalinin remained on injured reserve although he traveled to Boston. ... Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury but he's been practicing and could be available by the weekend. ... Alexander Kerfoot, the Devils' fifth-round pick (No. 150) in the 2012 NHL Draft, attended morning skate. Kerfoot is in his senior season at Harvard University.

What's next

Devils: Host the Minnesota Wild on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)
Bruins: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CITY, TVA Sports, NESN, NHL.TV)