Tim Thomas made 25 saves and Milan Lucic broke a scoreless tie early in the third period and the Boston Bruins beat the New Jersey Devils 2-0 on Tuesday night.

The Bruins, the Eastern Conference leaders, extended their winning streak to six, their longest stretch since last season. The only negative for Boston was the end of Phil Kessel's point scoring streak, snapped after 18 games.

Lucic scored 49 seconds into the third period. Zdeno Chara fired a hard shot from the top of the right circle that Scott Clemmensen blocked. The rebound came right to Lucic, positioned between the hash marks and he buried the shot.

Thomas, recording his third shutout this season and 10th of his career, made the goal stand up with solid stops on Travis Zajac and Dainius Zubrus in the final 4 minutes. David Krejci added an empty-net goal to seal the win.

The Devils, coping with the loss of four-time Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur until February or March, were 12-2-1 in the their previous 15 games. Clemmensen made 22 saves but it wasn't enough to extend New Jersey's three-game winning streak.

It was also a matchup of two of the top defensive teams in the conference and both sides played up to that level.

Each team had nine shots in the scoreless first period, and an equal number of quality chances. Clemmensen stopped Chuck Kobasew's drive off the left wing and Michael Ryder's close-in bid. At the other end, Brian Rolston hit the post.

The Bruins and Devils again had nine shots each in the second period. New Jersey had an outstanding opportunity when Jamie Langenbrunner and Patrik Elias zipped into the Bruins zone on a 2-on-1 break with 4 minutes remaining. Langenbrunner, on the right side, unloaded a hard shot that Thomas stopped. Alert backchecking by Blake Wheeler kept Elias from getting a clean shot at the rebound.

(thanks to the Associated Press for the assist)

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Devils Shut Out of Bruins Heaven
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Tim Thomas made 25 saves and Milan Lucic broke a scoreless tie early in the third period and the Boston Bruins beat the New Jersey Devils 2-0 on...

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