BOSTON — After going to overtime in four straight games, the Boston Bruins needed much less time to take care of the New Jersey Devils.

Milan Lucic scored a pair of goals, and backup Niklas Svedberg earned his second NHL shutout behind three periods of stifling Boston defense as the Bruins beat the Devils 3-0 on Thursday night.

“We were skating well and we were playing with a lot of urgency and a lot of jump right from the start,” Boston captain Zdeno Chara said. “I thought we controlled the play and made some solid, strong plays. We got a lead like we wanted and put a lot of shots on the net and created a lot of offensive zone time for us.”

Boston spent so much time at the other end of the ice that Svedberg faced only 14 shots. Boston held New Jersey to three in the opening period and four in the second, three coming on a late power play that did nothing to spark the Devils.

David Krejci and Torey Krug assisted on Lucic’s power-play goal with 1:12 left in the first as Chara provided a screen. Carl Soderberg added an unassisted goal 8:31 into the second for the only scoring until Lucic tapped in an empty-netter with 12 seconds left.

Patrice Bergeron, who scored the winner Wednesday in Boston’s overtime victory at Pittsburgh, passed the puck to Lucic as they skated in alone on the empty net.

Bergeron and Chris Kelly assisted on the final goal. It was the 700th career game for both.

Cory Schneider, who grew up near Boston and played at Boston College, made 41 saves and kept the Devils within range despite their lack of offense. Svedberg made his first start since a 6-2 loss at Columbus on Dec. 27, and didn’t get much of a challenge.

NOTES: Boston LW Loui Eriksson was out with an upper-body injury. He missed his first game of the season. … The Bruins’ 43 shots were two shy of their season high recorded in a 5-2 win over Detroit on Dec. 29.


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