McAvoy scores in season debut, Bruins defeat Flames

BOSTON -- Charlie McAvoy scored the go-ahead goal in his season debut for the Boston Bruins, a 3-1 win against the Calgary Flames at TD Garden on Thursday.

The defenseman missed the first 13 games recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. He gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 18:27 of the second period on the power play, scoring high from behind the right face-off circle.
"We did a good job getting the puck," McAvoy said. "We got possession of it, and set it up, and it was a good pass by [forward Pavel Zacha] to find me there in the seam, and just part of my sort of simple attitude. I just want to catch and shoot it."

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, and Linus Ullmark made 31 saves for his 10th win of the season for Boston (12-2-0).
"It's not a one-man show out there," Ullmark said. "We got 'Chucky' (McAvoy) back in the lineup as well, [Connor Clifton] playing insane hockey right now. It's just guys pulling their weight. We're doing a lot of things right. We don't take anything for granted. We're forechecking, backchecking, and that's what you've got to do."
Noah Hanifin scored, and Dan Vladar made 24 saves for Calgary (5-6-2), which has lost seven in a row (0-5-2).
"On winning or losing streaks, what are the two things that always happen?" Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "The goaltender steals a game, or somebody scores a big goal. … The two things we for sure have to get better at as a team is save percentage and shooting percentage."

Hanifin gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 4:43 of the first period. After receiving a backhand pass off the boards from Andrew Mangiapane, Hanifin sent a wrister to the top right corner from the blue line one second after a power play expired.
"There's points in the game where we're dominating and creating scoring chances, and you know, doing well in the [defensive] zone and breaking out as five," Mangiapane said. "One or two mistakes and then they end up in the back of their net, or we cause a penalty or they cause a penalty, and yeah, you've just got to clean up those mistakes."
Clifton tied it 1-1 at 16:38, following his own shot to get behind Vladar on the right side.

Trailing 2-1 within the final two minutes, Tyler Toffoli got stuffed at the crease, and Nazem Kadri sent a shot wide of Ullmark's glove with Vladar pulled for an extra attacker.
Pastrnak scored an empty-net goal with 33 seconds left for the 3-1 final.
The Bruins went 0-for-5 on the power play; the Flames were 0-for-6.
"Calgary came at us," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. "They were very physical. It was the most physical game we've been in. I liked the way we responded to the physicality, and I just like the way we keep finding ways to win hockey games."
NOTES: The Flames' seven-game losing streak is tied for the sixth-longest in their history; the record is 11, set in 1985-86 (Dec. 14-Jan. 7). … The Bruins matched their record for the longest home winning streak to start a season (8-0-0 in 1983-84). … Zacha had an assist in his 400th NHL game. He has 187 points (71 goals, 116 assists). … Ullmark has 36 wins in 50 starts with the Bruins; only one goalie in their history has more victories through 50 starts (Ross Brooks, 37). … Ullmark is the first goalie with 10 wins this season.