In Calgary Monday night, the Boston Bruins needed overtime to defeat the Flames, 2-1.
Tuukka Rask made 28 saves to get the win as the Bruins now are tantalizingly close to the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are clear of the lead by just one point over Boston.
Brad Marchand struck for the game-winner late in the extra session.
“[Riley Nash] made a great play to get it up,” Marchand said. “When I got in, I wanted to shoot it, but [Rittich] didn’t look like he was going to bite at all, so I made a move and it went in.”
David Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 1-0 first period lead.
Boston improved to 36-13-8.
“I think it starts at the top with leadership, and just having that constant belief we can do it, we can get the job done regardless of who we’re playing against,” Boston’s Riley Nash said. “I think it’s just that constant belief from the top down that we’ll pull it out.”
Home has not been kind to the Flames of late as they have lost seven of eight.
“First 40 (minutes), we played really well, really limited their opportunities. They had a few chances, but that’s what [goalie Tuukka Rask] is there for. If we can continue to sustain that for 60 minutes every night we’re going to be a really good team, really hard to play against,” Marchand said after the game.
Matthew Tkachuk struck in the middle frame to at least get the Flames a loser’s point.
“It’s frustrating,” Tkachuk said. “They’re a really good team. Didn’t give us many chances at all. The ones that we did get, we’ve got to capitalize. We did a good job of limiting … I don’t think we gave up a ton either. It was a pretty solid game, but it [stinks] when you can’t pull out the win.”
[WATCH: All Bruins vs. Flames highlights]
David Rittich made 31 saves in taking the loss.
“That team is a hard team to beat,” Calgary head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “Look across the League, not many teams are beating them. You can’t really beat them without goaltending. We got it tonight and gave us a chance. We had great goaltending.”
The Flames dropped to 30-21-9 and are two points back of the Los Angeles Kings for third in the Pacific Division; the Kings won over the Chicago Blackhawks Monday night.
“There are games where we lost where we played good games. Mentally, it’s hard, when you lose a game, you think you maybe have to change something or do something different, and that’s not necessarily the case,” the Flames TJ Brodie said after the game.
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