NEWARK, N.J. _ The Devils' latest loss came in much the same fashion as most of them have come since the Feb. 25 NHL trade deadline, right down to the early injury that left them with just 11 forwards for much of the game.
They played hard, they fell behind but not by much, they cut the lead and failed to hang on against the Boston Bruins in a 5-1 loss on Thursday night at Prudential Center. Drew Stafford scored for New Jersey and Cory Schneider made 22 saves for the Devils, who dropped their ninth game in their last 12 tries (0-8-1).
The Bruins' top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak were responsible for three of the four goals with Danton Heinen scoring one in the third period. Creating off the forecheck, Pastrnak slid a feed to a waiting Bergeron who batted it past Schneider with 1:26 left in the first period. Bergeron scored an empty-net goal in the third period, shortly before Schneider resumed his place in net and David Backes
At 12:58 in the second, Bergeron won a faceoff and Marchand collected the puck and found Pastrnak on the doorstep to make it 2-0.
Stafford then cut the lead to 2-1 beating Tuukka Rask from the left circle off the rush at 14:51 in the same period giving the Devils hope for a comeback in the third period.
But New Jersey continued the theme of playing in the defensive zone in the third period, failing to drive the play. Heinen made it 3-1 just 29 seconds into the third period. A point blast by Steven Santini hit Sean Kuraly in the hand but it was enough to get the puck back over the blue line headed toward the Devils' goal. While Kuraly skated off the ice in pain Heinen carried it over, split Santini and Connor Carrick and went top-shelf over Schneider.
Blake Coleman had two grade-A chances, one in the first period and one in the second but Rask turned him aside on both breakaways. New Jersey was outshooting the Bruins through the first period but Boston quickly overtook the beleaguered Devils midway through the second, putting them one step closer to a playoff berth.
