Bruins 6 - 2 Predators
Final
  for this game

Perfect power play fuels Bruins' win over Preds

Dec 24, 2013 - 6:12 AM Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Jarome Iginla scored twice and the Boston Bruins used a terrific special teams effort to down the Nashville Predators, 6-2, on Monday.

Reilly Smith and Carl Soderberg each recorded a goal and two assists for the Bruins, who converted on all three of their power-play chances to earn their seventh win in their last nine games.

Tuukka Rask was beaten twice by Craig Smith but stopped the other 32 shots he faced from Nashville, which has dropped four in a row on the heels of a three- game winning streak.

Carter Hutton was given the quick hook after giving up two goals on the first four shots he faced, while Marek Mazanec yielded four goals on 29 shots against.

Iginla tipped in a Zdeno Chara shot just 1:16 into the game, and Matt Fraser scored his first goal of the season off a long rebound 4:43 later, forcing Preds head coach Barry Trotz to pull Hutton.

Fraser was hooked by rookie Seth Jones shortly thereafter, and Reilly Smith made it 3-0 on the ensuing power play off a back-door pass from Soderberg at the 10:47 mark.

Craig Smith put Nashville on the board with 8:25 remaining in the middle stanza. While on the power play, Jones let a one-timer fly from the top of the right circle that was stopped by Rask. Smith, though, was on the right doorstep to tap in the rebound.

The Predators, who came in 0-15-1 when trailing after two periods, inched closer on Craig Smith's second goal 3:25 into the third period, but two costly Nashville penalties 23 seconds apart gave Boston a two-man advantage.

"We had all the momentum," Trotz said. "But our (penalties) cost us big time. It's absolutely unacceptable."

Iginla cashed in on a deft pass from David Krejci at the 5:01 mark, and Soderberg made it a three-goal game again just 49 seconds later off a centering feed from Ryan Spooner.

Brad Marchand's eighth goal of the season with 4:06 remaining capped the scoring.

The win was the 400th in Claude Julien career as a head coach.

"You hope as a coach that there's lots more ahead for you," Julien said.

Game Notes

Fraser was playing his seventh game of the season. Both of his career goals have come against the Predators ... This was Boston's first visit to Bridgestone Arena since Mar. 17, 2011 ... Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid returned from a nine-game absence to a nagging lower-body injury and saw 19:22 of ice time ... The Bruins are 4-0-2 in their last six versus the Predators.






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