Pastrnak scores twice, Bruins hold off Devils for 4th straight win

NEWARK, N.J. -- David Pastrnak scored twice and extended his point streak to 11 games in the Boston Bruins' 4-3 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Friday.

"I'm having a lot of fun and the puck is going in," Pastrnak said. "I've been shooting a lot. I'm just happy that it's going in. The whole team is doing well and that helps us have confidence. When every line is doing well that helps you as an individual."
Jake DeBrusk had a goal and an assist, David Krejci had two assists and Linus Ullmark made 37 saves for the Bruins (27-4-2), who are 6-0-1 in their past seven games.
Boston enters the Christmas break with the most points in the NHL (56).
"I don't even know if I let my head go there," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said when asked if he ever considered his team could be No. 1 at the holiday break. "It was more about us starting the year off well and then building every day. I think the confidence has just grown. We're deep and we can come at people wave after wave."

Tomas Tatar had a goal and an assist, and Nico Hischier and Dougie Hamilton each had two assists for the Devils (22-10-2), who are 1-6-1 in their past eight.
"We're kind of beating ourselves," Tatar said. "I don't think we played bad at all. We had a great start, had a great third. Even if they score one, we have to come back and keep playing because at the end of the game you never know what can happen."
Mackenzie Blackwood made 14 saves on 18 shots over two periods for New Jersey. He was replaced by Vitek Vanecek, who made five saves in the third period.
"We made some mistakes, they made some good plays," Blackwood said. "I screwed up a little bit, so just a combination of everything."
Jack Hughes gave the Devils a 1-0 lead in his 200th NHL game at 16:36 of the first period on a power-play goal from the top of the left face-off circle.
The Bruins scored four goals on 13 shots in the second period.
Patrice Bergeron tied it 1-1 at 3:12 on a redirection from the slot, and Pastrnak gave Boston a 2-1 lead 1:22 later on a backhand at the left post at 4:34.
Pastrnak pushed it to 3-1 at 9:52, settling a Krejci cross-ice pass in the right circle before scoring on a wrist shot.
"I mean, I play with Krejci, and he's never going to shoot it, so I guess somebody has to shoot on the line so that's my role," Pastrnak said.
DeBrusk scored from the slot after taking a pass from Brad Marchand for a 4-1 lead at 17:27 of the second on a giveaway behind the net by Devils defenseman Kevin Bahl.
"I just tried to get myself a little bit space towards the net and knew I had to elevate it," DeBrusk said. "It was a great play by [Marchand]; he passed it through a stick and it was a tap in."

Tatar cut it to 4-2 at 11:01 of the third period on a rebound from the bottom of the left circle, and Yegor Sharangovich made it 4-3 on a shot from the slot at 13:47.
"We had a couple of times around the net to attack, and I think we looked for a better play," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "I think I would've like to have seen us get to the net, inside attack, and get more people in."
Pastrnak has 15 points (10 goals, five assists) during his point streak.
"We needed Pastrnak," DeBrusk said. "It's one of those things where it seemed like there wasn't a lot going on through the neutral zone and that line (Pavel Zacha, Krejci, Pastrnak) just found ways to kind of get some high-level plays. It's exciting to see. You want to help to contribute, especially right after something like that."
NOTES: Zacha returned here for the first time since being acquired by Boston in a trade with New Jersey for Erik Haula on July 13. Zacha, who played seven seasons with the Devils, received an ovation during a video tribute in the first period and had one assist in 17:59 of ice time. ... Hughes has five points (three goals, two assists) in a five-game point streak. ... Defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk had two shots and two blocked shots in 14:03 in his season debut for New Jersey.