Bruins win fifth straight

It all started with a blocked shot in the defensive zone.

Seth Griffith made the block, recovered the puck, and started up ice alongside two Devils. He battled them into the offensive zone and outmuscled the pair as he advanced on the New Jersey net. Then, just as he neared the top of the crease, he found himself turned around.

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So, as any player would, he backhanded the puck between his legs with his back to the net.

And scored.

He was greeted at the bench with one sentiment from his teammates. As Gregory Campbell, resident king of the blocked shot, said, 'I think everybody said, 'Great block,' first.'

'I think the blocked shot is the best part of that,' Chris Kelly said. 'That's the one that took the most thought, I think. The other part I think was maybe just a reaction. There, he got in the lane on purpose.'

The reaction was in response to what might be a candidate for goal of the year - among the Bruins, and perhaps in the NHL. The game-winning goal, scored at 18:01 of the second, also provided the Bruins with their fifth straight victory, 4-2, over the Devils at TD Garden Monday night.

Asked if it was one of the best goals he'd ever scored, the understated Griffith said, 'Yeah, maybe.'

Maybe?

'To score a highlight goal like that originates with just a simple, honest, hard-working play,' Campbell said. 'When you sacrifice yourself and do the right thing, it pays off. In this case, it paid off right away for him. It's a big block.

'We spent some time in our own zone and for him to go down there and have the poise to get in the lane there, I'm sure he didn't envision what was to follow, but he was rewarded.'

It certainly wasn't Devils goalie Cory Schneider's best work. But it was also a masterful combination of effort and skill to fend off two defensemen after the blocked shot in the defensive zone. That, most of all, was what his teammates lauded.

'I thought, obviously, it's one of those great goals where he blocks a shot and goes down and wins a battle,' Kelly said. 'You didn't realize how nice it was until you saw it on the replay. So, yeah, it was a great goal by him.'

And it changed the tenor of the game, breaking a 2-2 tie, and launching the Bruins toward their second goal in 80 seconds, as Reilly Smith added a far more mundane score with 39 seconds to go in the second period. That goal, though, provided the Bruins with the cushion they needed to withstand a third-period onslaught by the Devils. New Jersey outshot the Bruins, 11-2, over the first 14 minutes of the third, and 14-3 for the 20 minutes.

'We needed that [goal by Griffith], I thought, in that moment,' Patrice Bergeron said.

The Bruins had gotten their first two goals in the first, after allowing the first score of the night to Travis Zajac just 1:26 in. Carl Soderberg got a power- play goal at 10:21, marking the third straight time his power-play unit had scored after getting two against the Oilers Thursday. He cleaned up a loose puck off a Smith shot from the point.

Bergeron added a pretty strip-and-score, capitalizing on a turnover by Eric Gelinas at 17:16, on a night in which the Bruins center would end up with 3 points (goal, two assists).

But the Devils tied it up on the strength of Jaromir Jagr's 708th career goal, beating Tuukka Rask stick side at 13:00 of the second. It wouldn't last.

That was because of Griffith.

'I think that's something really important in hockey, I think not giving up on any play, actually, and always trying to battle to get the puck,' Bergeron said. 'That is a perfect example.'

It appeared to change the momentum - in the building, on the team.

'Any time somebody sacrifices their body, it always kind of ripples through the team and creates some energy,' Campbell said.

They scored once more. They didn't allow the Devils to score.

And so it was that Griffith, a solution to the biggest problem that faced the Bruins at the start of the season, now is tied for third on the team in goals, with two of the most replay-worthy of the season. Because it was Griffith, of course, who could be seen flying through the air, Bobby Orr-style, Oct. 28 against the Wild.

Bruins coach Claude Julien could see Griffith's potential last season, when he watched some of the Providence Bruins' playoff games. He noted Griffith's hockey sense and his ability to be in the right places and the knack for scoring.

That has become apparent in the first month of the season, though Griffith continues to have much to work on. But he is coming up with opportune scores, and somehow creating 'Did you just see that?' incredulity among his newfound fans.

Griffith, though, continues to be relatively low key about the whole situation.

Asked about watching the play in the next day's video review, the winger said, 'Yeah, maybe I'll replay it once or twice. We'll see, though.'

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.

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