Rask, Bruins shut out Devils, keep them winless

BOSTON -- Tuukka Rask made 31 saves, and the Boston Bruins handed the New Jersey Devils their fifth straight loss to open the season, 3-0 at TD Garden on Saturday.

It was Rask's first shutout of the season and the 46th of his NHL career. Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist, and Patrice Bergeron and Joakim Nordstrom scored for the Bruins (4-1-0) in their home opener.
"We're playing good," Rask said. "I think you know when you finish your season in June, I think it helps everybody kind of have that feeling in the back of your head how to play this game. Systemwise I think we've been pretty solid, so I'm just tagging along there."
WATCH: [All Devils vs. Bruins highlights]
Cory Schneider made 29 saves for the Devils (0-3-2), who have lost their first five games for the first time since starting 0-2-3 in 2013-14.
"Obviously it's the start of the year, so everything's magnified and we need to get on the board, we need to start getting points," Schneider said. "Otherwise you look up and you're just buried in the standings. So we're not taking it lightly at all. We're not just kind of hoping something will happen. We're just trying to work, and right now it's just still not good enough. … There's nothing else we can really do other than continue to just work as hard as we can and keep playing the game the right way."
Marchand made it 1-0 at 3:33 of the first period after entering the zone near the right wall and pulling up against two defenders, then skating to the high slot. His wrist shot deflected off Devils defenseman Damon Severson in front.

Nordstrom made it 2-0 at 11:22 when Sean Kuraly got to a loose puck in the high slot and slid it to Chris Wagner, who fed it across the slot to Nordstrom.
"Yeah, it was obviously nice to get the first one kind of early on," Nordstrom said of his first goal of the season. "Kind of get that out of the way. But I thought we were playing well as a line and as a team. It was a tough game, it was a battle."
Bergeron scored a power-play goal with 46 seconds left in the second period for a 3-0 lead. After Marchand's wrist shot from the right face-off circle hit bodies in front, Jake DeBrusk jammed at the puck before it deflected to Bergeron for a flip-in.

The Devils outshot the Bruins 15-9 in the second period.
"I thought we managed the puck well, we were hard on the puck, we moved it low to high, we had a shot mentality, we got to the net," New Jersey coach John Hynes said. "You know, we had I know for sure four Grade-A chances right inside, right in front of the goalie, those prime-time area chances. But when we had them, I thought Rask played well and made some big saves and made some big plays on the power play."

They said it

"We've had some good moments on the road, but clearly it hasn't been good enough on the road, similar to last season. So we've got to make sure that when we're home, we're taking advantage. And we've clearly played better at home, but not good enough yet. So a good homestand is somewhere you can gain momentum and get confidence in your game." -- Devils goalie Cory Schneider on the six-game homestand that starts Monday
"We were fine earlier, to the guys' credit. We kind of talked about that this morning in the pregame meeting, kind of gave them a little something to think about, to make sure we're focused. I thought their start was excellent, I thought we finished really well. In between, we had some moments where we could have been better." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on Boston's start

Need to know

The Devils' two points are their fewest through five games since they started 1-4-0 in 1983-84. … New Jersey was 0-for-4 on the power play. It is 0-for-15 this season. … Marchand's assist on Bergeron's goal was the 300th of his NHL career. He has seven points (four goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak. … Bergeron has four points (one goal, three assists) during a four-game point streak. … Rask became the fourth Bruins goalie to have shutout in a home opener and the first since Gilles Gilbert (4-0 against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 11, 1979).

What's next

Devils: Host the Florida Panthers on Monday (1 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Bruins: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday (1 p.m. ET; SN, NESN, PRIME, NHL.TV)