Bruins score 4 straight in 2nd, rally past Devils

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins scored four straight goals in the second period en route to a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden on Saturday.

David Pastrnak and Kevin Shattenkirk each scored twice, and Linus Ullmark made 31 saves for Boston (21-7-6), which has won two in a row after losing its previous four (0-2-2).

“Coming off of a big break like that, especially with how we finished going into Christmas, there could have been a lot to dwell on,” Shattenkirk said. “But everyone did a great job of resetting, and really just starting fresh and making sure that we focused on building our game, and I think that’s what these past two games have been.”

Nico Hischier and Luke Hughes scored, and Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves for New Jersey (19-14-2). Tyler Toffoli had two assists.

“We lost a couple battles down low, and both of those plays ended up being goals against,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “Those types of mistakes against a team like that, they’re going to take advantage of [them].”

Hischier gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 6:03 of the first period. He one-timed a bumper pass from Toffoli six seconds into a power play.

“Obviously, we lost this game, and we weren’t good in the second period, but I think the first and third period, we can take good things out of it,” Hischier said. “But like I said, especially against this team, 20 minutes is enough to lose a game.”

Hughes made it 2-0 at 1:11 of the second period with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. It was his third straight game with a goal.

DeBrusk cut it to 2-1 at 5:35. Brad Marchand forced a turnover behind the Devils’ net before getting the puck back and passing to DeBrusk, who deked past Vanecek's left pad.

It was his first goal since Nov .30 (12 games).

“I haven’t felt this all year, so it’s nice to kind of be back in that sense of things,” DeBrusk said. “Obviously, it was a great play by ‘Marchy.’ … I think it was just nice having a reset, honestly, in the (holiday) break.”

Pastrnak tied it 2-2 at 12:51, poking in the rebound of a shot by Brandon Carlo.

“If you make mistakes, if you kind of take a gear off or whatnot, take a shift off, it usually doesn’t result in good things,” New Jersey forward Erik Haula said. “But overall, I think both teams had chances. Very unfortunate second period.”

Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead on the power play at 15:39, skating to the front of the net and deking around Vanecek.

“Initially I was thinking about shooting high glove,” Pastrnak said. “But I had quick look and I had a lot of speed, so it’s hard for the goaltender to kind of follow me all the way to the far post.”

Shattenkirk made it 4-2 at 17:14 before scoring his second of the game glove side on Vanecek  at 16:49 of the third period for the 5-2 final.

“I loved the response of the bench,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “We felt we were playing a good game. We felt we were playing to our identity, and we felt we were playing Bruins hockey. And that played itself out. Players were competing. I thought we were physical tonight.”

NOTES: Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy left the game at 16:17 of the third period with an apparent lower-body injury after colliding with Ullmark. Montgomery said McAvoy was fine, calling the injury a ‘stinger.’ … Bruins forward Georgii Merkulov played 15:08 in his NHL debut. … Devils forward Timo Meier left the game at 1:17 of the third period with an undisclosed injury. Ruff said he is still being evaluated. … Hughes is the second rookie defenseman in Devils history to score in three straight games, joining Barry Beck in 1977-78.