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Boston • Brad Marchand tried to poke the puck through the defender's legs and then, to his surprise, found that he still had the puck.
The Bruins forward took a couple of more strides and wristed it into the net, giving the Bruins a 3-2 overtime victory over the Nashville Predators.
"He was shocked that it worked," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after Marchand's goal 54 seconds into overtime. "Give him credit for that and he was smart enough to throw it at the net. Maybe I was a little surprised, too."
Jarome Iginla and Johnny Boychuk also scored in regulation for Boston, and Marchand faked out Predators forward Mike Fisher at the point to score the game-winner. That gave goalie Niklas Svedberg a victory in his NHL debut.
"Fish knows better than that," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "He can't play as light on guys one-on-one as that."
The Associated Press EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Boston 41 27 12 2 56 120 88
Tampa Bay 40 24 12 4 52 114 95
Montreal 42 24 14 4 52 109 98
Toronto 42 21 16 5 47 118 120
Detroit 42 18 14 10 46 109 120
Ottawa 43 18 18 7 43 122 138
Florida 41 15 20 6 36 96 130
Buffalo 41 11 26 4 26 72 117
Metropolitan Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Pittsburgh 42 29 12 1 59 131 96
Washington 41 20 15 6 46 125 123
Philadelphia 41 20 17 4 44 106 113
New Jersey 41 17 16 8 42 97 103
N.Y. Rangers 41 20 19 2 42 96 109
Carolina 41 16 16 9 41 100 121
Columbus 41 18 19 4 40 111 117
N.Y. Islanders 42 14 21 7 35 110 140
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Central Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Chicago 43 28 7 8 64 160 118
St. Louis 40 28 7 5 61 144 93
Colorado 40 25 11 4 54 116 101
Dallas 40 20 13 7 47 119 119
Minnesota 43 21 17 5 47 101 110
Winnipeg 43 19 19 5 43 117 125
Nashville 41 18 18 5 41 97 122
Pacific Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Anaheim 42 29 8 5 63 137 106
San Jose 40 25 9 6 56 131 104
Los Angeles 42 25 13 4 54 110 88
Vancouver 42 23 12 7 53 113 101
Phoenix 40 20 11 9 49 120 122
Calgary 40 14 20 6 34 96 126
Edmonton 42 13 24 5 31 109 143
NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Thursday's games
Boston 3, Nashville 2, OT
N.Y. Islanders 3, Chicago 2, OT
Carolina 4, Washington 3, OT
Ottawa 4, Winnipeg 3
St. Louis 5, Los Angeles 0
Minnesota 4, Buffalo 1
Montreal 6, Dallas 4
Colorado 2, Philadelphia 1
Columbus 2, Phoenix 0
Edmonton at San Jose, late