Ullmark makes 30 saves, Bruins defeat Ducks in shootout

BOSTON --Linus Ullmark made 30 saves for the Boston Bruins in a 2-1 shootout win against the Anaheim Ducks at TD Garden on Thursday.

Taylor Hall scored in regulation and got the only goal in the fourth round of the shootout for Boston (4-1-0), which was coming off a 7-5 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
"I'd rather we just win in, you know, after 60 [minutes]. That's how I see it," Ullmark said. "If it goes all the way to 65 and then shootout, it's been working so far. Hopefully we can keep doing that. I don't plan on letting in goals just because it's a shootout, so it was fun tonight."

Despite the win, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said there was still a lot of room for improvement.
"We just didn't make clean plays tonight," he said. "I thought puck movement was slow at 5-on-5 and especially on the power play tonight. We found a way to get two points. It's a hard league to win in, and we're going to enjoy the two points, but we're not going to be happy with the team play."
Frank Vatrano scored, and John Gibson made 35 saves for Anaheim (1-3-1), which has lost four straight.
"[Boston's] got great back pressure," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "We need to play behind them, and we had a couple of our lines who refused to do it. The pucks were turning around, coming back our way, but then as we got on and further in the game, we started to employ our game plan better, and then suddenly you start getting rewarded."
Jake DeBrusk appeared to score for the Bruins at 15:50 of the first period on a 2-on-1 with Pavel Zacha, but Eakins challenged the play for offside, and the call was reversed after a video review.
Hall then gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 2:31 of the second period, scoring five-hole on a turnaround shot from low in the left circle after knocking down Gibson's clearing attempt. Matt Grzelcyk, who was making his season debut following offseason shoulder surgery, had the secondary assist on the play.
"It was just fun to be back out there," Grzelcyk said. "You get a little anxious before the game. I'm not sure how it's going to play out, but just kind of kept reminding myself that I'm in a fortunate position, lucky to be back. The guys have been playing great. I just wanted to come in and make it as seamless as I could."

Vatrano tied it 1-1 at 6:03 of the second. He beat Ullmark with a one-timer from the right circle on a 2-on-1 after Ryan Strome poked the puck away from Jack Studnicka at the Bruins' blue line.
"I think it's a huge step for us," Vatrano said. "I think that's the most complete game we played. We looked at some things this morning to fix the problems. Obviously, it'd be nice for two points, but it's good to get one, and we have to build off that."
Both teams had prime opportunities to score in overtime, but Strome had his breakaway stopped by Ullmark with 1:15 remaining, and Gibson denied David Pastrnak from low in the left circle while lying on the ice with 10.6 seconds left.
"It was a good game, probably the best game we've played so far this year," Gibson said. "We have to find a way to score on the power play (0-for-4). I mean, we had some big opportunities there, and make-or-break games, but we just got to keep taking steps forward."
NOTES:Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm was playing against his former team for the first time since being traded to Boston on March 19. He finished with one assist and led the Bruins with 25:01 of ice time. … Boston failed to score at least five goals for the first time this season.