STRETCH RUN
4th straight win fuels playoff push
The Bruins picked up two more hard-earned points yesterday in their continued push toward a playoff berth.
With the 5-2 victory against the Florida Panthers at the Garden, the streaking B’s improved to 90 points and remain in a battle with the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs for either second or third place in the Atlantic Division while also maintaining hold on a wild card position in the Eastern Conference.
The Bruins have won four straight and resume play this afternoon in Chicago against the Blackhawks. The final week of the season will also include home games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Ottawa and the Washington Capitals.
“You want to build confidence this time of the year,” B’s interim coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We’ve kind of gutted it out defensively the last three or four games and kept it out of the net, and we are going to carry it on the road (today) and come home next week.”
The Bruins protected a onegoal lead through most of the third period and put the game away with tallies in the final two minutes. Brad Marchand scored his 39th goal of the season on the power play at 18:16 and Patrice Bergeron potted his second of the game into an empty net at 19:48.
Tuukka Rask made 13 of his 24 saves in the third period.
“(Rask) was terrific and they certainly came with the intent to get the tying goal and pushed hard,” said Cassidy. “We bent but certainly didn’t break, and Tuukka was able to make some big stops.”
At 17:03 of the first period, Noel Acciari put the B’s in the lead with a strong individual effort. Acciari blocked a shot at his blue line, broke free through the neutral zone and was repeatedly hooked from behind in the offensive zone by the Panthers’ Jakub Kindl. With the referee’s arm extended to signal a penalty, if not a penalty shot, was coming, Acciari ripped a wrister that deflected off Florida goalie Reto Berra’s glove and inside the near post for his second career goal and second of the week.
“Noel fended the guy off all the way up the ice and battled through a hook and got a good shot off,” Cassidy said.
Florida tied it up at 1:38 of the second period on a play that began when Thomas Vanek stopped a clearing pass at the left point. Vanek slipped the puck across the blue line to Nick Bjugstad and advanced on the Bruins net. Bjugstad’s high wrist shot bounced off Vanek in the crease and deflected in off Rask’s skate.
Bergeron’s first goal, on a shot from the bottom of the right circle, restored the lead at 7:56 of the second. David Pastrnak began the collaboration with a back pass to Zdeno Chara at the left point. Berra (24 saves) stopped Chara’s blast but the rebound landed on Bergeron’s stick.
“We got some breaks tonight but we made our own breaks on that particular goal getting to the net and getting a second chance,” Cassidy said.
The ageless Jaromir Jagr brought the Panthers even again on the power play less than three minutes later. Keith Yandle fired a wrister from the left circle that Rask kicked out the rebound of to the high slot. Jagr retrieved the puck and his wrister through traffic beat Rask at 10:53.
Berra then gifted David Krejci a goal at 14:30 of the second. The goalie came out of his crease and attempted a clearing pass off the boards. Krejci intercepted the clear at the right point and fired a slapper that eluded Yandle and the diving Berra.
“It was a good puck-pursuit play and it started with Pastrnak chasing down a puck and Krejci following it up ice,” Cassidy said.