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Bruins shake the Blues

Bruins 4, Blues 2

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

February 23, 2012|By Fluto Shinzawa

Brad Marchand slid the puck between the legs of St. Louis Blues' Brian… (Tom Ganman/Associated…)

ST. LOUIS - Brad Marchand had gone six games without a goal. Last night at the Scottrade Center, he was determined to make that stretch just a memory.

Marchand scored the first and last goals to lead the Bruins to a much-needed 4-2 win over the Blues, one of the premier home teams in the league.

The Bruins snapped a two-game losing streak and handed the Blues their first regulation loss at home in more than two months.

“Especially when your team’s not winning the way we can, you put a lot of pressure on yourself to score,’’ Marchand said. “It had been a few games. Longest slump I’ve had in a while. It was nice to get the monkey off the back.’’

It wasn’t just that Marchand scored goals 20 and 21 of his season. It was the timing of the strikes.

The Bruins are one of the best clubs in the league when they score first. Entering last night, they had won almost 90 percent of the games in which they’d been first to get on the scoreboard. But in their last 20 games, they had fallen behind in 13, and lost 11.

So when Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 2:29 of the first, it was a most welcome sight. Kevin Shattenkirk started the breakout in the St. Louis zone, and as he approached the blue line, Marchand picked the former Boston University defenseman’s pocket, then snapped a riser over Brian Elliott to put his club ahead.

“Some scoring early in the game was helpful to our overall team confidence,’’ said Bruins goalie Tim Thomas.

In the third period, Marchand beat Elliott once more. The Bruins were nursing a 3-2 lead, and the Blues were pushing hard for the equalizer. Because of how much pressure the Blues were applying, the Bruins knew they might have a chance the other way.

After Patrice Bergeron won a battle against Chris Stewart, Tyler Seguin tracked down the puck along the right boards in the defensive zone. At the same time, Marchand pulled away, hoping his linemate would find him. Seguin sent a crisp pass up the ice to Marchand, and the left wing slipped behind the defense. Marchand faked forehand on Elliott, then tucked a backhander between the goalie’s five-hole at 9:14, giving the Bruins a 4-2 lead.

Game over.

“We beat a pretty good team here tonight,’’ coach Claude Julien said. “It was our focus and determination. The commitment was definitely there.’’

As crucial as Marchand’s goals turned out to be, it was a Chris Kelly strike late in the first that gave the Bruins the life they needed.

At 6:19 of the first, Milan Lucic gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead when he tipped home a Joe Corvo blast. But less than a minute later, the hard-charging Blues kicked off their rally. Stewart found the rebound of a Jason Arnott blast and beat Thomas (30 saves) at 7:17, cutting Boston’s lead in half.