BOSTON —  A pregame visit from injured playmaker Marc Savard may have helped awaken the Boston Bruins’ dormant power play.

The Bruins scored on their first three chances with the man advantage Saturday en route to a 5-0 victory over the Calgary Flames.

Additional Photos

Marco Sturm celebrates a first-period goal by Dennis Seidenberg as Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff, center, and Mark Giordano look on Saturday at the TD Garden. The Bruins won for only the third time in their last 15 home games, 5-0. The Associated Press

Boston had been in an 0-for-22 drought and was 1 for 24 since Savard sustained a Grade 2 concussion on March 7 when he was hit by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke, likely knocking him out for the season.

Savard, who saw his teammates for the first time since then and met the media along with General Manager Peter Chiarelli before the game, had already left the TD Garden before Dennis Seidenberg, David Krejci and Zdeno Chara connected on the power play in the first 26:15 of the game.

“It was good to see him,” said Patrice Bergeron, who himself dealt with a serious concussion in 2007 and has been advising his teammate through this tough time. “Just happy to see him doing little better, but still you can tell he’s going through some tough times.

“We’re all behind him. We’re all supporting him. I just want him to stay patient and stay positive. Obviously, it’s hard for him to do that. I feel for him and I’m behind him 100 percent.”

The Bruins went into the game 7 for 82 on the power play during Savard’s three injury absences this season. Those problems disappeared Saturday.

“Our PP was struggling,” said Krejci. “Today, I think we came out pretty strong. To get three important goals, I feel pretty happy about that.”

Tim Thomas, making his first start in six games, stopped 31 shots for his first shutout since Dec. 21.

“I didn’t really know what to expect but the team came out so strong in front of me and did a really good job of making me feel comfortable and that helped a lot,” said Thomas, who was lauded by Coach Claude Julien for his “mental toughness” for coming back strong after being on the bench.

The victory, which moved the Bruins into a tie with Philadelphia for seventh in the Eastern Conference, was just the third in the last 15 home games for Boston. Calgary, in ninth place in the West, remained six points behind Colorado for the final playoff spot.

Seidenberg, scoring his first goal as a Bruin, and Krejci both beat Miikka Kiprusoff with slap shots, and Chara took a pass from Krejci and skated down the slot before beating Kiprusoff with a wrist shot.

Thomas, the defending Vezina Trophy winner who has lost his No. 1 job to rookie Tuukka Rask, won for the first time in his last four starts.

The Flyers, who lost 4-1 at Pittsburgh on Saturday, are ahead of Boston in the win column, but the Bruins, four points ahead of ninth-place Atlanta, have a game in hand.

The Flames, meanwhile, know what they are up against.

“We have to run the table now,” said Jarome Iginla. “Other teams have done it in the past, run the table near the end. We need to put together five or six wins. It’s literally all Game 7’s for us now.”

Five Bruins had two points apiece, including Krejci, who has at least two points in each of the last three games and six of the last nine.

The Bruins scored their most goals at home since a 6-4 win over Atlanta on Dec. 23.

Boston’s Johnny Boychuk received a five-minute major and game misconduct for elbowing in the third period, but the Flames managed just three shots during the long power play.

Seidenberg, who had seven assists in 12 games since the Bruins acquired him from Florida, broke a scoreless tie at 14:08 of the first period.

Krejci and Chara then struck 4:46 apart early in the second.

Bergeron set up Mark Recchi’s goal and scored one of his own as the Bruins chased Kiprusoff in the third period.

NOTES: Bruins defensemen Andrew Ference missed the game because of a lingering groin injury.

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