Friday, May 25, 2012
The Associated Press
BOSTON - The Boston Bruins refocused their thoughts and effort with a couple hard practices after a humiliating loss. It paid off with an emotional victory.
Chris Kelly of the Bruins loses his balance after taking a shot on Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne as the Predators’ Shea Weber defends Saturday in Boston. The Bruins broke a two-game home losing streak with a 4-3 shootout win.
Photos by The Associated Press
It’s a winner. Referee Kevin Pollock signals as Boston’s Patrice Bergeron celebrates after scoring the deciding shootout goal against Nashville.
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Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron scored shootout goals to lift the Bruins to a 4-3 comeback win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday.
Coming off its largest loss in nearly four years, Boston forced overtime when Milan Lucic scored a power-play goal with 67 seconds left in regulation after goalie Tim Thomas was pulled for an extra skater.
The Bruins won it with a pair of goals in the shootout against Pekka Rinne, who had a solid game.
"We had a couple of good days in practice and it was hard working," forward Brad Marchand said. "It reminded us again how we have to play."
Daniel Paille and Bergeron also scored for the Bruins, who had lost 7 of 12.
"It would have been a shame after all that effort," Boston Coach Claude Julien said.
Thomas stopped 19 shots in regulation, and then turned aside Sergei Kostitsyn and Martin Erat in the shootout.
Mike Fisher, Shea Weber and Patric Hornqvist scored for Nashville, which lost for the fourth time in five games. Rinne made 38 saves through overtime.
Predators Coach Barry Trotz thought his team looked more worried about how the Bruins would play instead of themselves.
"I knew Boston was going to come with a desperate game after last game," he said. "As I said after the game, 'I want you to respect your opponent, but don't give them too much respect because then you don't play with the confidence and conviction that you need."'
In the shootout, Seguin shifted a few times before lifting a backhander over Rinne's right pad. Bergeron then slipped a shot between the goalie's legs for Boston's second goal in three attempts in the tiebreaker.
The Bruins rebounded from a 6-0 loss at Buffalo on Wednesday, their worst defeat since being beaten by Toronto 8-2 in March 2008. Boston had also lost two straight at home.
"It's our job to build off this," Thomas said. "I think we played a much better game and we found a way to win again."
Fisher's goal had given Nashville a 3-2 lead with 3:32 left in regulation. Fisher came charging down the left wing, circled the net, and lost the puck briefly before slipping it under Thomas.
Lucic tied it by scoring off a rebound when he slipped a backhander just past the diving Rinne.
The Predators, outshot 41-22, went long stretches without getting the puck out of their end.
"That was a terrible game for us," Predators defenseman Ryan Suter said.
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