NEWARK, N.J. — Charlie McAvoy scored in the 11th round of the shootout to lift the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

Anton Khudobin made 40 saves as Boston improved to 9-7-4 with its third straight win – all with Khudobin in goal.

Jake DeBrusk and Patrice Bergeron scored first-period goals for the Bruins.

New Jersey has dropped three of its last five in falling to 12-5-4.

Jesper Bratt and Brian Gibbons scored for the Devils, and Cory Schneider made 27 saves.

The shootout opened with Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak trading goals. And it stayed that way until McAvoy’s winner.

Advertisement

Prior to the extra period, the first of three regular-season meetings between the longtime Eastern Conference rivals, was essentially a special teams affair.

Despite not scoring on their four power plays and surrendering a man-advantage goal to the Devils, it was the Bruins who left with two points thanks to two first-period even-strength strikes and the play of Khudobin.

The Bruins struck first when rookie left winger DeBrusk got his fifth of the season with a shot from the right circle at 1:25. And Bergeron added to Boston’s lead with his fifth of the season at 11:02.

The Bruins had a two-goal lead and Khudobin, who made his third straight start, tried to make it hold up with a pad save on a Nico Hischier break-in with and a diving stop on Travis Zajac in a span of 1:13. But there was nothing he could do on Bratt’s power-play goal with 2:50 left as New Jersey’s rookie right winger lifted a loose puck in the slot to halve the deficit while Brian Boyle was tied up with Zdeno Chara in front of Khudobin. A video review upheld the goal.

The game remained 2-1 until the Devils tied it on Gibbons’ top-of-the-crease deflection with 4:44 left in regulation. Up to that point, though, Khudobin was the story as he stopped a Blake Coleman short-handed attempt with 10:35 left in the second. Khudobin also benefited from Hischier, the first overall pick in last June’s NHL draft, losing control of the puck alongside the goal line late in the period. Midway through the third, Khudobin stoned Hischier from the top of the crease.

The Devils outshot the Bruins, 42-29.

NOTES: Boston scratched LW Matt Beleskey, D Torey Krug and D Paul Postma. .The Bruins did not have LW Anders Bjork (undisclosed), LW Brad Marchand (upper body injury), RW David Backes (colon surgery) and D Adam McQuaid (broken right fibula). .Boston announced RW Jordan Szwarz had been sent down to AHL Providence.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.