Bruins 4, Devils 1
Defenseman Zdeno Chara scored the go-ahead goal and Tim Thomas turned aside 30 shots as the Boston Bruins skated to a 4-1 victory over the visiting New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
Shawn Thornton, Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi also scored for Boston (40-22-10), which won for just the second time in eight games and may have delivered the death knell to New Jersey's postseason hopes.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored the lone goal for New Jersey (34-35-4), which started the night seven points behind eighth-place Buffalo and lost for the third time in four games.
Thomas weathered a 16-shot first period in snapping a personal four-game losing streak to ensure the Bruins maintained their lead over Montreal atop the Northeast Division.
Chara put the Bruins in front for good at 8:17 of the second period. It was his 400th career point and the first 5-on-4 power-play tally by Boston since Feb. 18.
Martin Brodeur made 26 saves for the Devils.