In Boston, the Anaheim Ducks rediscovered their game on Monday night, and defeated the Bruins, 5-3.
John Gibson made 23 saves to earn the Anaheim win.
David Pastrnak, Taylor Hall, and Erik Haula were the Bruins strikers.
Boston fell to 24-13-2.
“Clearly we need to be better, a little more on our toes. I can’t sit here and say exactly why today that teams are coming in here and they’re ready to play,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “All in all, not good enough. We chased the game for a number of different reasons tonight, not just the start. It’s something we’ve got to correct, especially at home.”
Special teams drove the Ducks to a 2-0 lead in the game.
“I thought all of our guys were prepared to play. I thought it showed in the emotion that we had in our game,” Ducks assistant Geoff Ward said. “Now we’ve got to take what we need to from this game and springboard it into the next one in Toronto (on Wednesday) because the games at this time of year just keep getting bigger, and they just keep getting more difficult.”
Derek Grant hit for a 1-0 lead to Anaheim in the first period, the goal came off the power play.
Anaheim’s special teams then collected a shorthanded goal from Isac Lundestrom for a 2-0 lead at 1:28 of the middle frame.
Anaheim improved to 21-16-7.
Ryan Getzlaf scored for the Ducks after Pastrnak put the Bruins on the board.
“You get things rolling in the right direction and you play the same way. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. We came out with a little bit of an in-your-face type of attitude,” Getzlaf said. “We’re trying to get to that volume, where we’re in that slot area and the net driving plays, those kinds of things. That’s been more effective and we’re able to score goals.”
Troy Terry replied to a Hall goal for 4-2 lead.
The Ducks’ Greg Pateryn scored following Haula’s goal for the 5-3 final.
Tuukka Rask made 22 saves in the Boston loss.
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