Recap: Bruins end road trip with strong 4-2 win over Flames

The Boston Bruins ended their Western Canada road trip on a high note, beating the Calgary Flames 4-2 on Saturday.

Linus Ullmark was sensational in net again, finishing the night with 40 saves. It’s his fifth consecutive game where he has not allowed more than two goals.

Connor Clifton, Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and Curtis Lazar were the goal scorers on the night for Boston. The Bruins improved to 14-8-2 with the victory.

1st period

The Flames came out flying in the first period. They were consistently out-chancing outshooting the Bruins.

But it was Clifton that put the first tally on the board, giving the Bruins a 1-0 late in the frame.

First of the season for Clifton and after being vastly outplayed in the first 20, held onto a 1-0 lead going into the intermission.

2nd period

After surviving an early rush for the Flames to start the 2nd, Marchand showed off his hand-eye coordination with a beautiful tip on a David Pastrnak shot.

Pasta’s just trying to throw this at the net and Marchand does an excellent job redirecting it by Jacob Markstrom.

Less than a minute later, the Bruins took advantage of a turnover at the blue line by the Flames in their own zone and McAvoy extended the lead to 3-0.

Marchand started the pay by stepping up and keeping the play in the zone and McAvoy made no mistake.

The Flames finally broke through with under eight minutes to go in the period when Matthew Tkachuk put in a power play goal.

You can see Ullmark trying to push Tkachuk away but was a little slow to get back into position. Don’t think he was expecting that quick of a shot from the point by Rasmus Andersson.

The Bruins took a 3-1 lead into the final period.

3rd period

Boston didn’t waste any time getting a little insurance. Great rush in by Trent Frederic and after he was denied twice by Markstrom, Lazar was able to finally get the goal.

The Flames got within one on a Sean Monahan goal under three minutes left in the game, but that was it. A 4-2 win over a strong Flames team.

Notes

• Linus Ullmark again was fantastic. Back-to-back games with 40+ saves. He’s looking very much worth the $20 million he was given this summer
• Points in all three games on the road. Can’t ask for anything better than that.
• Look at that, depth scoring! Goals from two defensemen, one being a third-pair guy, and the fourth line. That’s a resume for success
• John Moore was second among defensemen in time on ice. Just like we all expected
• Another point for Anton Blidh. He has four points in 11 games played this season. He’s been extremely good for the Bruins when he’s in and should see more consistent playing time
• Not often the Bruins get outshot and definitely has been rare to get outshot by that much. But the Flames performed kind of like we’ve seen the Bruins. Ton of shots, not a log of dangerous chances. Nice to be on the opposite side of one of those games
• Bruins finally pass the Red Wings in the standings
• I’m not sure why the Flames went with Markstrom after he played the night before. I know he’s been great and Vladar had a bad last outing, but that’s really the first one of the season. Not that any of the goals were on Markstrom, but interesting decision by Darryl Sutter

Five out of six points on the road trip and the Bruins head back to Boston to play the Vegas Golden Knight on Tuesday then back on the road for three more.

Really good to get wins against quality opponents and put the Vancouver loss behind them.