Bruins rally from down two, defeat Devils in shootout

BOSTON -- Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk scored in the third period, and the Boston Bruins rallied for a 5-4 shootout win against the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden on Tuesday.

The Bruins trailed by two goals entering the third period before McAvoy scored to make it 4-3 at 10:22, and Grzelcyk tied the game 4-4 at 16:00.
"Those are the guys we rely on for offense," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said of the defensemen. "They came through for us, but you know it was a real struggle at the other end. Our first touch tonight was probably as poor as it's been all year, and it led to some goals-against.
"So it's nice when you can learn lessons when you get two points. We were able to outscore our mistakes tonight. And good for [Grzelcyk] and Charlie, they're the leaders of the back end right now. … Happy for them."
Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves, and David Krejci and Craig Smith each had three assists for the Bruins (18-9-5), who split the two-game set after a 1-0 loss here Sunday.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 44 saves, and Travis Zajac became the fourth player to score 200 goals for the Devils (13-16-5), who have lost three of four.
"I thought our puck play, which was pretty good through two periods, in the third period kind of let us down," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "We didn't execute sometimes leaving the zone. Spent extra time with some plays late in the zone that if we make better plays, I think we're going up ice, creating opportunities."
Miles Wood gave the Devils a 1-0 lead when he scored at 1:28 of the first period on their first shot on goal.
Nick Ritchie tied it 1-1 at 5:55 on a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle off Blackwood's glove.
Michael McLeod scored on a breakaway to put New Jersey ahead 2-1 at 9:34.
Zajac made it 3-1 on a tip-in from the slot at 3:45 of the second period.
"It just means I've played with some good players that made me look good," Zajac said of the milestone. "It was nice to contribute. But other than that, you know it would've been nice to get the two points."

Brad Marchand scored a power-play goal to cut the lead to 3-2 at 15:48. It was his first game after missing two in the NHL COVID-19 protocol.
Kyle Palmieri scored unassisted to give the Devils a 4-2 lead at 17:06. It was his eighth goal of the season and fifth in six games against the Bruins.
Boston outshot New Jersey 19-9 in the third period. McAvoy scored on the rebound of a shot by Smith, and Grzelcyk scored on a shot from the high slot through a screen by Ritchie.
"You saw in the third period, when we compete and work hard on pucks … and we play together, we're a tough team to play," Marchand said. "We completely took over that game. And we can do that for a full 60 (minutes). It's just got to start somewhere. It started tonight, so we've got to keep that rolling."

Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak scored for the Bruins in the shootout, and Halak made saves against Pavel Zacha and Palmieri.
"Sometimes it's not going to be pretty," Coyle said. "Sometimes we're going to make mistakes. But it's how you come back, and that shows our character in the third period there, to come back, pull that out, squeak the two points out like we did. We don't want to do that every time, but we have that card. If that's what it's calling for, we play it. And everyone comes together and gets the job done. So that was huge by us."
NOTES: Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo was minus-1 with two shots on goal, two hits and two blocked shots in 22:14 in his return missing 10 games with an upper-body injury. … It was Boston's first win at home against New Jersey in four games this season. … Zajac trails Patrik Elias (408), John MacLean (347) and Bobby Holik (202) on the Devils' all-time goals list. … Blackwood made 40 saves Sunday for his first shutout of the season.