BOSTON (AP) — Brad Marchand scored 54 seconds into overtime, faking out a defender at the point and then wristing the puck into the net to give the Boston Bruins a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
Marchand’s move past Predators forward Mike Fisher gave Bruins goalie Niklas Svedberg a victory in his NHL debut. Svedberg, who was called up from the AHL, stopped 33 shots.
Jarome Iginla and Johnny Boychuk also scored for Boston, which snapped a two-game losing streak.
Viktor Stalberg and Shea Weber scored for Nashville. Marek Mazanec made 22 saves for the Predators, who lost for the first time in three games.
The Bruins were lackluster in the first two periods — managing just three shots to Nashville’s 16 in the second — but tied it 1-1 when Boychuk, trailing a 3-on-2, took a drop pass and wristed into the net with 5 minutes gone in the third.
The Bruins took the lead with 7½ minutes to play when Milan Lucic centered it from the left boards and Iginla, crashing the net, tipped it in.
Iginla’s goal, along with assists by Lucic and David Krejci, gave all three a scoring streak of six games.
But the Predators tied it less than 2 minutes later when Shea Weber slapped in a rebound after Roman Josi outbattled Marchand for the puck behind the net.
Nashville scored first in the second period when Fisher was waiting at the blue line for the long breakout pass and he drew both defenders to him as he skated in on the right side. When his shot bounced off Svedberg into the slot, Stalberg had an open net to shoot at.
It was Stalberg’s first point in five games and his first goal since Dec. 14.
Notes: Svedberg was 13-5-3 with a 2.87 goals-against average in 22 games for Providence of the AHL this season. … It was Game 1 of a three-game road trip for the Predators. They had previously planned to fly to Florida on Friday for Saturday’s game against the Panthers; it was not clear if the snow would affect their plans. … The Predators had been 15-1-2 when scoring first.
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