Devils Keep Slim Playoff Hopes Alive with 2-1 Win Over Bruins

Joseph Blandisi of the Devils lays a hit on Brad Marchand of the Bruins. Photo Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

NEWARK, NJ – Travis Zajac and Reid Boucher each scored on the power-play and Keith Kinkaid made 39 saves as the New Jersey Devils earned a much needed victory by defeating the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center.

The win puts the Devils (37-32-8) five points behind the Detroit Red Wings (38-28-11) and Philadelphia Flyers (37-25-13), both of whom they are trying to catch for the second wild card position in the Eastern Conference.

Zajac got New Jersey on the board first when he connected on the team’s second chance on the man advantage. Boucher fired a nice pass right on his tape in the center slot. The veteran center took the puck from his backhand to his forehand, and then lasered a shot past Tuukka Rask to give his squad a 1-0 lead.

The Bruins (40-29-8) answered back in the beginning of the second to knot the game at one a piece. Brad Marchand tracked down a puck fired up ice and then made a nifty move to split the defense tandem of Adam Laarson and Andy Greene. He then made a beautiful deke move past Kinkaid before firing a backhander upstairs.

With the game still deadlocked with just over 16 minutes to go, New Jersey got their fifth power-play chance when Boston’s Zdeno Chara was penalized for boarding against Devante Smith-Pelly.

The Boucher, Zajac connection worked for the second time to put the Devils up for for good. This time, it was Zajac who made a no look pass to Boucher who ripped a one timer over a sprawling Rask.

Kinkaid was, without a doubt, the Devils best player on Tuesday night. He made superb stops all night and had to be sharp as his team was outshot by more than a 2 to 1 margin.

New Jersey has only five games remaining and will likely need to win all of them to have a chance at making the playoffs. They play their last three at home, but will first travel to Florida to take on the Panthers (42-25-9) on Thursday night and then , the Tampa Bay Lightning (44-27-5) on Saturday night.