PHILADELPHIA – The Boston Bruins got started right away with a goal in the first minute and cruised to an easy win after burying the Philadelphia Flyers with a flurry of early goals.
Benoit Pouliot, Daniel Paille, Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic scored in the first period to help Boston beat Philadelphia 6-0 on Saturday, snapping the Flyers’ seven-game winning streak.
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“We were obviously ready for this game and it showed — start to finish,” Boston Coach Claude Julien said. “This was probably just a tough night on their part. We got the early goal and it just seemed to snowball from there and eventually it becomes frustration. We know how good they are. We played well and they had a tough night.”
The Bruins, who have won four straight, tied Philadelphia atop the NHL’s Eastern Conference with 43 points apiece. Nathan Horton and Tyler Seguin also scored for Boston, which leads the NHL with 21 victories.
The Bruins’ first two goals came so quickly, Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette called a timeout after Paille’s goal 2:50 into the game. That came on the heels of Pouliot’s goal, which was 27 seconds after the opening faceoff.
“There were things that happened in the first eight minutes (of the game) that suggested that we were off,” Laviolette said. “We weren’t as sharp as we had been, whether it was line changes or coverage, assignments, whether it might be against a team that was here waiting, eyeballing us. They were sharper in those areas. It was a tough day for us, not typical of the way we were playing or executing.”
Whatever benefits the timeout had, they were short-lived. Zdeno Chara blasted a shot through Ilya Bryzgalov’s legs about five minutes later on a power play set up when Philadelphia was called for too many men on the ice.
As if that weren’t enough, Lucic scored on a two-man advantage with 2:50 left in the period.
When Horton tipped home another rebound 7:06 into the second period, Laviolette yanked Bryzgalov in favor of Sergei Bobrovsky.
DEVILS 5, CANADIENS 3: Patrik Elias scored twice, including his team-record 348th goal for visiting New Jersey.
PENGUINS 8, SABRES 3: Evgeni Malkin had his seventh career hat trick, and injury-depleted Pittsburgh peppered two Buffalo goalies in a home victory.
Jason Williams and Simon Despres each scored their first goal with Pittsburgh during the first seven minutes, and James Neal, Deryk Engelland and Chris Kunitz each added a goal.
RANGERS 3, COYOTES 2: Brad Richards scored the winning goal with 0.1 seconds left to give New York a win at Glendale, Ariz.
RED WINGS 8, KINGS 2: Cory Emmerton had two goals and an assist, and Drew Miller scored twice in Detroit’s home victory.
LIGHTNING 3, BLUE JACKETS 2: Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist, and Mathieu Garon stopped 26 shots to lead Tampa Bay to a win at Columbus, Ohio.
CANUCKS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 3: Roberto Luongo made 26 saves and Vancouver wrapped up a long trip with a victory at Toronto.
JETS 5, DUCKS 3: Defenseman Zach Bogosian had a goal and two assists, leading Winnipeg to a home victory.
PREDATORS 2, BLUES 1: David Legwand scored the only shootout goal, and Pekka Rinne finished with 39 saves for host Nashville in its fifth consecutive victory.
ISLANDERS 2, WILD 1: Frans Nielsen scored the only goal in the shootout at St. Paul, Minn.
NOTES
CANADIENS: Montreal fired Coach Jacques Martin and put assistant Randy Cunneyworth in charge for the rest of the season.
Assistant GM Larry Carriere was appointed assistant coach.
KINGS: The Los Angeles Times said Darryl Sutter has agreed to coach the team and will take over Tuesday.
The Kings fired Terry Murray on Monday. John Stevens has been serving as interim coach.
PENGUINS: Sidney Crosby, out since Dec. 5 because of a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms, was placed on the injured list.
TRADE: The Ottawa Senators acquired forward Kyle Turris from the Phoenix Coyotes for defenseman David Rundblad and a second-round draft pick.
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