Hampus Lindholm had three assists in a, 5-3, victory for the Anaheim Ducks as they beat the Boston Bruins on the road Monday night at TD Garden.
John Gibson (14-10-6, 2.55 goals-against average, .919 save percentage in 30 games played) made 23 saves on 26 shots faced in the win for Anaheim.
Boston goaltender, Tuukka Rask (2-2-0, 4.29 goals-against average, .844 save percentage in four games played), stopped 22 out of 27 shots against in the loss in his first consecutive start of the season.
The Bruins fell to 24-13-2 (50 points) overall, but remain in 4th place in the Atlantic Division, while the Ducks improved to 21-16-7 (49 points) and took command of 2nd place in the Pacific Division.
As a result of the ongoing pandemic, the two clubs hadn’t played each other prior to Monday night since Oct. 14, 2019, when David Pastrnak scored all four goals in a, 4-2, win for Boston on home ice.
The Bruins were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Trent Frederic (upper body), John Moore (upper body), Anton Blidh (upper body) and Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) on Monday.
Moore and Blidh took part in morning skate ahead of the game, but were not well enough for game action.
Meanwhile, Mike Reilly returned from the league’s COVID-19 protocol and was utilized in his usual spot on the second defensive pairing alongside Brandon Carlo.
As a result of Grzelcyk being out and Reilly returning, Urho Vaakanainen was promoted to the first pairing with Charlie McAvoy.
Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no other changes to his lineup from Saturday afternoon’s, 3-2, win against the Winnipeg Jets to Monday night’s action.
Frederic, Moore, Steven Fogarty (taxi squad), Jesper Frödén (taxi squad), Grzelcyk, Tyler Lewington (taxi squad), Zboril and Blidh comprised the long list of Bruins that were out of the lineup for one reason or another against the Ducks.
Less than a minute into the opening frame, McAvoy hooked Rickard Rakell and presented Anaheim with the night’s first power play as a result 44 seconds into the first period.
The Ducks weren’t successful on the ensuing skater advantage, however.
About midway through the opening period, Oskar Steen checked Nicolas Deslauriers with force from behind at an awkward angle, yielding a five-minute major for boarding initially.
In accordance with league rules, the on-ice officials reviewed the play and rescinded Steen’s major and instead issued a minor infraction on the play– yielding a two-minute power play to Anaheim as a result at 9:09 of the first period.
50 seconds into the skater advantage, Ryan Getzlaf unloaded on a blast from outside the faceoff circle to the left of Rask that was tipped by Derek Grant (7) in the slot to give the Ducks a, 1-0, lead.
Getzlaf (23) and Lindholm (12) tallied the assists on Grant’s power-play goal at 9:59.
Anaheim’s goal marked just the eight shot combined on the night as the Ducks held a, 7-1, advantage in shots on net as Grant opened the scoring.
Heading into the first intermission, the Ducks led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and held an, 11-5, advantage in shots on goal.
Anaheim also led in blocked shots (6-1), while Boston led in takeaways (4-3), giveaways (5-2), hits (11-8) and faceoff win percentage (59-41).
The Ducks were 1/2 on the power play after one period and the B’s had yet to see any action on the skater advantage. That would change quickly in the middle frame.
Trevor Zegras slashed Patrice Bergeron and worked his way over to the penalty box as the Bruins went on their first power play of the night 17 seconds into the second period.
Unfortunately for Boston, the ensuing skater advantage was not kind to them.
Isac Lundeström (9) broke free and crashed the net on a breakaway, sliding the puck under Rask either via the five-hole or under a leg where Rask couldn’t quite get a feel for it as the rubber biscuit trickled through and made its way over the goal line.
Lindholm (13) tallied the only assist on Lundeström’s shorthanded goal and the Ducks led, 2-0, at 1:28 of the second period.
Almost midway through the period, Tomáš Nosek worked a pass across the slot to Pastrnak (20) for a one-timer goal that cut Anaheim’s lead in half, 2-1.
Nosek (6) and Nick Foligno (6) were credited with the assists on Pastrnak’s goal at 7:47 as No. 88 in black and gold reached the 20-goal plateau for his sixth consecutive season– tying Bobby Orr for the most consecutive 20-goal seasons (six) under the age of 25 in Bruins franchise history.
Overall, Pastrnak is tied for the eighth-most consecutive 20-goal seasons, trailing Johnny Bucyk (10), Rick Middleton (nine), Brad Marchand (nine), Phil Esposito (eight), Bergeron (8), Peter McNab (seven) and Orr (seven).
Marchand reached his ninth consecutive 20-goal season this season and Bergeron currently has 12 goals in 2021-22.
Less than a minute later, during a commercial break, Gibson shoved Foligno as the Bruins forward appeared to have been chirping the Anaheim bench.
A scrum ensued, though nobody received any minor infractions.
Shortly after play resumed, Foligno and Sam Carrick exchanged fisticuffs as the Ducks defended their goaltender.
Both players received fighting majors at 8:55 of the second period.
Foligno and Carrick’s fight marked the 14th fight this season for Boston and the eighth since Jan. 1st.
Moments later, Getzlaf (3) entered the attacking zone and ripped a shot over Carlo, as well as over Rask’s right shoulder on the blocker side to extend Anaheim’s lead, 3-1, at 11:04 of the second period.
Rakell (9) and Lindholm (14) had the assists on Getzlaf’s goal as the Ducks retook a two-goal lead.
A few minutes later, Josh Mahura hooked Steen at 14:59 and presented Boston with another power play.
This time the Bruins were sure to take advantage of the skater advantage as Marchand sent a shot pass to the slot where Taylor Hall (9) redirected the puck off the far right post and into the twine behind Gibson.
Marchand (25) and Bergeron (20) notched the assists as Hall’s power-play goal brought Boston back to within one– trailing, 3-2, at 15:52 of the second period.
Through 40 minutes of action, the Ducks led the Bruins, 3-2, on the scoreboard and, 20-15, in shots on goal, despite Boston amassing a, 10-9, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone.
Anaheim held the advantage in blocked shots (11-1), giveaways (10-7) and hits (19-16), while Boston led in takeaways (5-3) and faceoff win% (54-46).
Both teams were 1/2 on the power play heading into the final frame.
Vaakanainen caught Rakell with a high stick 26 seconds into the third period and presented the Ducks with another chance on the power play, but Boston made the kill.
Moments later, Troy Terry (23) entered the attacking zone before curling and dragging the puck for a snap shot over Rask’s blocker side to give Anaheim another two-goal lead, 4-2, at 6:12 of the third period.
Kevin Shattenkirk (16) and Cam Fowler (16) had the assists on Terry’s goal as the Ducks continued to dominate the evening.
Midway through the period, Mahura lost an edge while chasing a loose puck in the low slot and crashed into the left post– requiring an extra minute or two with the assistance of a trainer to get off the ice.
With about 13 minutes left in the game, the Bruins tweeted that Foligno would not return to the action with an upper body injury, joining Deslauriers and Mahura in the pile of injuries on the night.
Greg Pateryn (1) blasted a shot from the point over Rask’s blocker side with traffic in front of the net to make it a four-goal lead for the Ducks at 10:58 of the third period.
Zegras (20) and Rakell (10) had the assists on Pateryn’s goal– his first in 44 games– as Anaheim extended their lead, 5-1.
Erik Haula (4) answered back late in the third with a one-timer goal courtesy of 49 seconds worth of zone time in Boston’s attacking zone as Pastrnak worked the puck deep to Reilly for the backhand behind the back pass through the slot to Haula to bring the Bruins to within two goals.
Reilly (6) and Pastrnak (17) tallied the assists on Haula’s goal and the B’s trailed, 5-3, at 16:28.
With 3:02 remaining in the action, Cassidy pulled Rask for an extra attacker.
After a stoppage with 15.1 seconds left on the clock, Cassidy used his timeout to rally his players for a chance at a double-miracle that ultimately went by the wayside.
At the final horn, the Ducks had won, 5-3, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 27-26– despite Boston holding an, 11-7, advantage in the third period alone.
Anaheim left TD Garden with the advantage in blocked shots (23-3) in addition to two points in the win column, while the Bruins exited their own arena leading in giveaways (13-11), hits (30-25) and faceoff win% (59-41).
The Ducks went 1/3 and the B’s went 1/2 on the power play on Monday.
The Bruins fell to 9-8-2 (6-5-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-8-1 (4-5-1 at home) when trailing after one period and 3-10-2 (3-6-1 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.
Anaheim, meanwhile, improved to 17-6-3 (6-4-1 on the road) when scoring first, 14-1-2 (4-1-0 on the road) when leading after the first period and 15-2-1 (5-2-0 on the road) when leading after the second period in 2021-22.
Boston went 5-2-0 in their seven-game homestand and will hit the road to finish the month of January with a three-game road trip.
The B’s visit the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET on TNT), Arizona Coyotes on Friday and Dallas Stars on Sunday before returning home to host the Seattle Kraken in their first ever matchup on Feb. 1st.
Down the Frozen River 
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