Ritchie Has Goal, Assist In Bruins' 4-3 Win Over Stars
BOSTON (AP) — Nick Ritchie had a goal and an assist for his first points since Boston acquired him at the trade deadline, and the NHL-leading Bruins snapped a two-game losing streak by beating the Dallas Stars 4-3 on Thursday night.
Brad Marchand broke a second-period tie and Ritchie scored 87 seconds later to make it 3-1. Then after Denis Gurianov cut the deficit to one early in the third, Ritchie fed David Pastrnak in the slot to again make it a two-goal game.
Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 shots, and Charlie Coyle scored on a double-tipped swat out of the air for Boston.
Ben Bishop made 24 saves and John Klingberg also scored for the Stars, who had won two straight and seven of their previous nine games.
The Bruins earned their 92nd point and first since acquiring Ritchie and Ondrej Kase before the trade deadline. Kase made his Boston debut, but only Ritchie found the net.
Klingberg scored a power-play goal with just over two minutes left in the first on a wrist shot from the point. But the Bruins tied it on an advantage with 16 seconds left in the period, when the puck bounced off Bishop's chest, Coyle batted it with the shaft of his stick and then knocked it in with the blade.
It was still 1-1 midway through the second when David Krejci and Joe Pavelski got in a fight, with Krejci landing several solid blows to the Stars center's head. Krejci's first fight since 2011 got the crowd riled up, and a few minutes later Charlie McAvoy — after whiffing once — slid the puck over to Marchand to give Boston the lead for good.
The Stars cut it to 4-3 with Bishop out for an extra skater when Halak made a great right leg save on Miro Heiskanen, but the puck bounced off Zdeno Chara's skate and into the net.
NOTES: Marchand extended his point-scoring streak to eight games. He has two goals and nine assists in that span. ... The Stars had been 23-4-3 when scoring the first goal of the game.
UP NEXT
Stars: At St. Louis on Saturday.
Bruins: At the New York Islanders on Saturday
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