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MacDonald shines as Bruins defeat Devils

Mar 5, 2007 - 4:54 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Joey MacDonald could not have scripted a better debut with the Boston Bruins.

MacDonald made 26 saves while Brandon Bochenski had a goal and an assist as the Bruins posted a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Claimed off waivers from Detroit on February 24, MacDonald won for just the second time in eight starts this season. He entered 1-5-1 with a 3.46 goals-against average and an .872 save percentage.

"We were coming off what I thought was a great win last night," MacDonald said of a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. "We have a lot of young guys who just work hard every night."

The Devils fell to 22-8-5 at home after their second straight loss at Continental Airlines Arena. They dropped a 4-3 shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.

"We're definitely disappointed," New Jersey coach Claude Julien said. "We all realize that we certainly aren't playing our best hockey right now. We were definitely flat. We're going through a tough sequence right now. These last two games have made it difficult for us. We're faced with a challenge right now, and knowing our hockey club, I know we are going to respond to it."

Behind the play of MacDonald, the Bruins improved to 7-2-0 in their last nine road contests.

"Everyone was really confident in him," Boston's Marco Sturm said. "He made some really good saves. He looked very sharp from the start, and I think everyone saw that and everyone was really comfortable."

After Michael Rupp scored at 6:40 of the third period to pull the Devils within 2-1, Bochenski restored a two-goal cushion less than two minutes later when he redirected rookie Phil Kessel's pass past goaltender Martin Brodeur from the low slot.

Bochenski has eight goals and six assists in 14 games since being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in a trade on February 3.

Sturm, P.J. Axelsson and defenseman Aaron Ward also scored for the Bruins. Kessel and Patrice Bergeron each had two assists.

Ward, acquired from the New York Rangers on Tuesday, gave Boston a 1-0 advantage when his shot from the right point beat Brodeur through a screen at 12:26 of the third period.

"We seemed to have a firm amount of pressure in their zone, and we had about four or five kicks at the cat there," said Ward, who snapped a 26-game goal drought. "We had to get guys in front of Marty, and we had some traffic in front."

Sturm scored the go-ahead tally shorthanded just 19 seconds into the second period when he beat Brodeur on a breakaway for a 2-0 lead.

"I don't know who it was who came across, but Bergie (Bergeron) just tipped it and I went in as hard as I can," Sturm said.

Brodeur finished with 25 saves for New Jersey, which is 5-2-1 in its last eight contests.

"I don't know what it was," Brodeur said. "Maybe it was they way the Bruins played us, or it was just us. We didn't have that drive to compete."