Final
Bruins begin trek in Anaheim
Dec 1, 2014 - 4:18 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Boston Bruins will begin another month without captain Zdeno Chara, as they kick off a four-game road trip in Monday's clash against the Anaheim Ducks.Chara has been sidelined since suffering a torn ligament in his left knee on Oct. 23 against the New York Islanders. The star defenseman has resumed skating, but won't join the team for the road trip, which also features stops in Los Angeles, San Jose and Arizona.
So far, Boston has fared well during Chara's absence, going 10-4-1 in 15 games without their leader.
The Bruins are 4-1-1 over their past six games and halted a modest two-game slide by earning Friday's 2-1 win over Winnipeg. Dougie Hamilton scored 3:39 into overtime to help Boston down the visiting Jets and Tuukka Rask made 35 saves for the victory.
Late in OT, the Bruins skated in on a 3-on-2 rush with Carl Soderberg leading the charge. He slid a pass to Hamilton trailing the play, and the former first round pick beat Michael Hutchinson high stick-side.
"I don't know if I've ever scored an OT goal before, so a pretty good feeling to get the win after the start that we had," Hamilton said.
Hamilton also assisted on Milan Lucic's fifth goal of the season early in the third period. Soderberg recorded an assist on both markers.
In addition to dealing with Chara's absence, the Bruins have played four straight and 10 of the past 12 games without top centerman David Krejci, who is sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Krejci also isn't making the trip out West for the Bruins, who are 5-4-0 as the road team this season.
With Boston also playing tomorrow against the Kings, backup goaltender Niklas Svedberg could get his seventh start of the season over the next two days. Rask is 1-2-0 with a 3.59 goals against average against the Ducks in his career and 1-1-0 with a 2.20 GAA versus L.A. Svedberg has never faced either team.
Anaheim is hoping to get back on track tonight after losing two straight on the heels of a three-game winning streak. The Ducks have yielded 10 goals over the two setbacks, dropping Friday's 4-1 home decision against Chicago before losing the following night in San Jose by a 6-4 score.
The Sharks jumped all over the Ducks on Saturday, outshooting Anaheim by a 14-5 margin in the opening period while taking a 3-1 lead. San Jose extended that cushion to 5-1 early in the second before the Ducks began to pick away at the lead.
Unfortunately for Anaheim, the bad start doomed the club to a loss as the Ducks were only able to cut the deficit to 5-4 before Matt Nieto sealed San Jose's win with an empty-net goal in the final minute of play.
"We tried to do things right, but we had some bad breaks," Anaheim head coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Then we got mad and showed how we can play."
Corey Perry posted two goals and an assist in the loss, while Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and two assists. Matt Beleskey also scored for the Ducks.
Frederik Andersen allowed five goals on 19 shots before being pulled over six minutes into the second period. Jason LaBarbera turned aside all 15 shots the rest of the way.
Andersen has never faced the Bruins, while LaBarbera suffered an overtime loss in his only career start against Boston.
Anaheim owns a 4-1-1 record in the last six meetings with the Bruins. Boston has lost in three of its last four trips to Orange County.
- BOSTON: 2
ANAHEIM: 3
Final
Dec 2 12:32 AM - Boston Goal - Simon Gagne (2), from Daniel Paille and Dougie Hamilton at 10:20.
Bruins 2, Ducks 3 3rd - 9:40Dec 2 12:12 AM - BOSTON: 1
ANAHEIM: 2
End of 2nd
Dec 1 11:36 PM - Anaheim Goal - Sami Vatanen (6), from Patrick Maroon at 11:17.
Bruins 1, Ducks 1 2nd - 8:43Dec 1 11:18 PM - BOSTON: 0
ANAHEIM: 0
End of 1st
Dec 1 10:42 PM - BOSTON: 0
ANAHEIM: 0
1st Period - 20:00
Dec 1 10:08 PM
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