Kuzmenko scores in debut, Flames defeat Bruins

BOSTON -- Andrei Kuzmenko scored in his debut for the Calgary Flames, who defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 at TD Garden on Tuesday.

Kuzmenko was acquired in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday for forward Elias Lindholm. Calgary also received a first-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and defenseman prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo.

“It’s a good feeling because we win,” Kuzmenko said. “It’s good. … Today is a normal game, it’s not [great] because we had a lot of chances. We needed more goals [on] my line, [but] it’s good.”

Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists, Nazem Kadri had three assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves for Calgary (23-22-5).

“A pack of hyenas can take down a lion,” Kadri said. “So that’s the type of mentality that we need, is playing as a team and everyone chipping in. When we do that, we can accomplish great things.”

Pavel Zacha scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves for Boston (31-10-9), which had won seven of its previous eight games.

“I just didn’t think we were good,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Our effort was poor. Obviously as a staff, you look inward and you look at our preparation. You always think, as a coach, your preparation was good, but obviously, it wasn’t good enough. A lot of mental mistakes, a lot of physical mistakes, and that’s the lack of real good preparation. Individually and collectively.”

It was each team's first game since the NHL All-Star break, with both last playing 10 days ago.

Kuzmenko gave the Flames a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 4:20 of the first period, finishing off Huberdeau’s cross-ice pass. The goal came just after Markstrom stopped Bruins forward Charlie Coyle on a short-handed breakaway.

“To me, that’s a turning point, for sure,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “And then our power play getting two [goals]. … That’s a real positive for us because even the one we didn’t score at the end of the game, it was dangerous. It looked good, and that’s something that we want to keep seeing.”

Connor Zary made it 2-0 at 13:01, driving across the crease and scoring on the backhand around Swayman.

Zacha cut it to 2-1 at 4:14 of the third period with a 5-on-3 power-play goal from the right circle.

“I think everyone from our team wanted to score,” Zacha said. “I think the 5-on-3, it was a momentum change, and then we took a penalty, so that kind of took it away from us right away. It’s one of those games where we just have to learn how to win those, and we’ve done it the whole season, so we have to keep working on it.”

Huberdeau made it 3-1 at 6:23 of the third. He stole the puck from Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy and shot past Swayman with the teams playing 4-on-4.

“We played well defensively, and I think we want to play as much time in their zone [as possible], so I think we don’t play defense,” Huberdeau said. “That’s our goal, but yeah, we’ve got to think about defense, and that’s what we did tonight, so we’ve got to keep doing that.”

Noah Hanifin snuck a backhand short side on the power play at 9:44 for the 4-1 final.

“It was a great effort, honestly,” Hanifin said. “Sometimes, coming out of breaks like that, you can be a little rusty in certain areas, but I thought we played a really complete game at both ends of the ice.”

NOTES: Kuzmenko’s goal was the fifth-fastest by a player making his Flames debut. Eddy Beers had the fastest (1:45) on March 17, 1982. … Zary’s first-period goal was his 11th of the season, making him the first Calgary rookie since Mark Jankowski (17 in 2017-18) to score more than 10 in a season. … David Pastrnak’s assist on Zacha’s goal marked his 73rd point through 50 games, the most by a Bruins player through 50 games in 30 years.