NEWARK, N.J. — Center Ryan Spooner and right winger Kevin Hayes scored 13 minutes, 46 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Boston Bruins to a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Friday night.
Left winger Frank Vatrano and defenseman Colin Miller also scored for Boston, which won for the first time since Dec. 29. Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson made 19 saves for the Bruins (21-14-4), who improved to 12-3-2 away home.
Despite goaltender Cory Schneider 27-save performance, New Jersey (20-17-5) lost its third straight game.
Right winger Bobby Farnham scored the Devils’ lone goal.
The Bruins did not have the appearance of a team that had lost two straight, and five of their last six. Boston led for almost the entirety of the game following Vatrano’s goal 2:02 into the match.
The sequence began with New Jersey defenseman Eric Gelinas attempting to clear the puck from the defensive zone, but his pass was intercepted inside the blue line Miller, who fired a shot toward Schneider. While New Jersey defenseman Jon Merrill was battling Hayes, Vatrano slipped in and wristed a quick shot for his sixth goal in 24 games.
Boston continued its in-game trend of scoring quick, period-opening goals when Spooner’s wrist shot from the blueline eluded Schneider 4:49 into the second to make it 2-0.
New Jersey cut the deficit in half on Farnham’s goal at 11:57. The waiver-wire pickup raced up the right wing side and whipped a shot from the circle for his sixth of the season in 24 games.
Farnham’s goal was only New Jersey’s second in their last three games. The Devils lost all three by an aggregate 7-2 to Detroit, Montreal and Boston.
Boston took advantage of the malfunctioning New Jersey attack, and went into the second intermission with a 3-1 lead after Hayes’ power-play goal with 1:25 left in the period. With right winger Paul Thompson serving a two-minute minor for tripping Boston defenseman Zach Trotman, Hayes tipped defenseman Zdeno Chara’s point shot to allow the Bruins to regain a two-goal advantage.
Boston finished 1-3 on the man advantage, and killed both of New Jersey’s power plays.
Miller’s left side slap shot 6:33 into the third pushed the advantage to 4-1.
Hurricanes 4, Blue Jackets 1
RALEIGH, N.C. — Center Elias Lindholm scored a tiebreaking goal in the second period and a clinching goal late in the game as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Friday night at PNC Arena.
Center Jordan Staal scored earlier on a power play for the Hurricanes (17-18-7), who won for the first time in four games. Left winger Chris Terry tallied in the third period for the Hurricanes before Lindholm’s empty-net goal with 1:01 to play.
Carolina goalie Cam Ward made 35 saves. Ward notched his first victory since Dec. 26, though it was only his third appearance since then.
Center Brandon Dubinsky had the goal for Columbus, which dropped to 8-15-0 in road games.
Each team was playing its first game after reaching the midway marks on their schedules.
Goalie Anton Forsberg stopped 25 shots for the Blue Jackets.
Columbus (15-24-4) had its lowest goal total in a nine-game stretch. The Blue Jackets averaged 3.6 goals during the previous eight games.
After Carolina’s third goal, Dubinsky and Hurricanes center Brad Malone dropped the gloves in a fight that might have been a sign of rising tensions for teams that will meet on back-to-back nights.
The Hurricanes gave up one only goal in the second period despite Columbus twice going on 5-on-3 power plays.
Carolina claimed a 2-1 lead when Lindholm snapped a 12-game drought without a goal. He tipped in a shot taken by defenseman Noah Hanifin.
Staal was positioned in front of the net and redirected defenseman Jaccob Slavin’s shot, with the puck going through Forsberg’s legs with 3:51 left in the first period.
Right winger Kris Versteeg contributed assists on the first two Carolina goals, pushing his team-leading total to 19.
Dubinsky’s goal came after the Blue Jackets’ first two-man advantage expired, but with time remaining with a one-man advantage on the power play.
Dubinsky collected a rebound, with his shot sending the puck off Carolina defenseman John-Michael Liles’ skate and into the net.