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Bruins aim to rebound against visiting Flames

Dec 17, 2013 - 4:00 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Boston Bruins aim to rebound from a lopsided loss when they host the traveling Calgary Flames for Tuesday's battle at TD Garden.

Boston, which holds a three-point lead over Montreal for first place in the Atlantic Division, had matched a season high with four straight wins before getting dealt a 6-2 setback Saturday in Vancouver. It was the lone loss for the Bruins on a five-game road trip and just their second defeat in the past eight games overall.

Henrik Sedin posted a goal and an assist to lead the Canucks offense while Roberto Luongo made 39 saves for the win. Reilly Smith scored both goals for the Bruins, who were visiting Vancouver for the first time since June 15, 2011, when Boston took a 4-0 victory in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals to claim the franchise's first championship since 1972.

Tuukka Rask was touched for four goals on 23 shots on Saturday before getting pulled early in the second period. Chad Johnson gave up two goals on seven shots in relief.

"The final score was much different from the way I felt our team played," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "They capitalized on their chances and we didn't."

Boston is 13-3-2 on home ice this season and is hosting Calgary just one week after beating the Flames on the road last Tuesday. The Bruins won that game 2-1 in regulation after rallying for two goals in the third period. Smith potted the game-winner with 4:33 left to play for Boston, a mere 98 seconds after David Krejci recorded the equalizer with the Bruins on the power play.

Last week's encounter also marked Boston forward Jarome Iginla's return to Calgary, a city where the former Flames star spent 16 memorable seasons. Iginla injured his finger in a fight with Vancouver's Ryan Kesler on Saturday, but is expected to play tonight.

Boston has claimed four straight and five of the last six meetings with the Flames. Calgary has dropped three in a row and five of the last six encounters in Beantown.

The Flames opened their current five-game road trip with Saturday's win in Buffalo, but they dropped a shootout decision the following night in New York City. The 4-3 setback against the New York Rangers denied Calgary its first three-game winning streak of the season.

Benoit Pouliot recorded the winner in the seventh round of the shootout for the Rangers on Sunday. Pouliot began the deciding round by using several stick fakes to pull Karri Ramo out of position, and, as he slid to the left post, directed the puck inside the right pipe. New York netminder Henrik Lundqvist then sealed the win by stopping Mikael Backlund.

Backlund, Curtis Glencross and Sean Monahan lit the lamp in regulation for the Flames, while Ramo made 29 saves in defeat.

Calgary fell to 7-8-2 on the road this season. The Flames will continue their swing Thursday in Detroit before capping the trip Saturday in Pittsburgh.