Haula has two goals, Bruins defeat Blue Jackets to extend wild card lead

BOSTON --Erik Haula broke a tie with 3:54 remaining in the third period, and the Boston Bruins defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 at TD Garden on Saturday.

Haula redirected Brandon Carlo's wrist shot from the right face-off dot on the power play to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead.
"My mindset was to play off the shot and get to the netfront," Haula said. "I feel like that was an area where we could maybe take advantage of them a little bit. We wanted to put pucks to the net, and we definitely had some looks right in the crease there. Got a couple goals there as well, so it was a good formula."
Haula had two goals, Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists, Jake DeBrusk scored for the fourth straight game, and Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves for Boston (43-20-5), which has won six of seven to move seven points ahead of the Washington Capitals for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We got back to playing the way we were supposed to [in the third period]," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Their goalie was seeing the puck well, so we needed some second and third efforts around the net to get it by him. Those are the things we talked about between periods, and I thought we took it to heart."

Gustav Nyquist and Justin Danforth each had a goal, and Elvis Merzlikins made 37 saves for Columbus (32-32-5), which has lost six straight (0-4-2).
"We were in this game. A 2-2 hockey game, and they score. We were doing a good job on the [penalty kill], then one shot and one tip," Blue Jackets assistant Pascal Vincent said. "I'm disappointed for the players. They were doing a great job, and one shot, one tip. But that's what good teams do, and that's why those guys are competing for a Stanley Cup."
Haula put the Bruins ahead 1-0 at 15:09 of the first period, scoring on a loose puck in front of the crease after Merzlikins saved Charlie McAvoy's backhand.
Nyquist tied it 1-1 at 19:32 on a rebound at the top of the crease after Swayman could not control Cole Sillinger's deflection.
"It's just not good enough, and that's something we talked about before the game, that we didn't like our start last game," Nyquist said. "Fortunately, we got in after that period 1-1, and I thought we got our legs under us in the second. It was a tight game."

Danforth gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead 42 seconds into the second period, finishing Yegor Chinakhov's rebound after his shot hit the apron of the goal.
"They outplayed us for the majority of that game," Danforth said. "I feel like when you take a shift off against these guys, they jump down your throat pretty easily. … I think we battled hard, but these moral victories aren't going to cut it for us. We want to come in here and win."
Marchand tied it 2-2 at 18:13 to complete a tic-tac-toe passing play with Patrice Bergeron and DeBrusk.
"[Marchand] had a really good shift," Cassidy said. "[DeBrusk] won a puck on a second effort, got it to the slot, [Bergeron] made a great play, and we ended up scoring on it. It kind of snowballed, I think, a shift or two before that with some positive energy from Brad."

DeBrusk scored into an empty net to make it 4-2 at 18:00 of the third, and Charlie Coyle made it 5-2 with an empty-net goal at 19:54.
NOTES: Swayman is 20-9-3 this season. He is the seventh Bruins goalie to win 20 or more games as a rookie in the NHL expansion era (since 1967-68) after Tuukka Rask (22 in 2009-10), Andrew Raycroft (29 in 2003-04) and Marco Baron (22 in 1981-82). … McAvoy had two assists in his 300th NHL game. … Haula has scored 10 points (four goals, six assists) in the past six games. … … Bergeron extended his point streak to five games (eight points; two goals, six assists). … Blue Jackets coach Brad Larson and assistant Steve McCarthy each missed their third game while in NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Columbus defenseman Gavin Bayreuther was minus-1 with four hits in 14:34 after being a healthy scratch the past eight games. … Sillinger's assist was his first point in nine games. … Boston finished 4-1-0 on its homestand. It will play in Columbus on Monday to complete the home-and-home series.