Bruins defeat Flames in shootout at China Games

SHENZHEN, China -- The Boston Bruins defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 in a shootout in the opener of the 2018 O.R.G. NHL China Games at Universiade Sports Center on Saturday.

Jake DeBrusk scored the shootout winner in the fourth round. Brad Marchand also scored in the shootout for Boston. Matthew Tkachuk had Calgary's lone shootout goal in the first preseason game for each team.
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"It's great," Bruins forward Ryan Donato said of playing in China. "Hockey brings all communities together and I think the fact that we can share in this with Shenzhen and have some Americans at the game is definitely something special. Hopefully it felt special to them. Obviously, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play here. For me, I cherished every second of it."
The Bruins and Flames will play at Cadillac Arena in Beijing on Wednesday (7:30 a.m. ET; NBSCN, SN).
"You could tell it's been four or five months since we've been playing," Marchand said. "That's what these games are for, get the rust out, get your feeling back, get your hands back, and timing. Definitely needed it. Gonna need a couple more."
Trent Frederic, Donato and John Moore gave Boston a 3-0 lead in the first period with goals 1:55 apart. Frederic scored at 13:42, Donato at 15:01, and Moore beat Calgary goalie Jon Gillies on a one-timer 36 seconds later.

Each shot was from the left circle.
"Other than that little spurt that they got three in a row there, I thought we played a good game," said Calgary captain Mark Giordano, who scored twice. "[There were] some mistakes that you don't normally see, but I definitely think we got better as the game went on, which is a good sign.
"It was a good first game to get into. I think it had a little bit of everything."
Giordano scored the tying 5-on-3 goal at 19:13 of the third period. He also scored 21 seconds into the third period. Sean Monahan scored a power-play goal for the Flames with one second remaining in the first period to make it 3-1.
"I thought we got better as we went along," Flames coach Bill Peters said after his Calgary debut. "I thought we were loose at times. Obviously they got three quick ones there and we [allowed] too many odd-man rushes. … Lots of scenarios that probably neither team has had a chance to work on yet. It was good to get one under our belt."
Peters said it being the first preseason game made it challenging for Calgary.
"There's just so many things that occur during a game that you don't want to overwhelm the guys with information, especially for us with a new coaching staff and a bunch of new players, it's different," he said. "If it was your old team, they'd know what you want and know your terminology. Tonight was a little bit tough in that regard."
Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak started for Boston and was replaced by Tuukka Rask with 12:31 remaining in the third period because of an equipment issue. Halak returned six minutes later and finished the game.