Ryder

The Boston Bruins snapped their two-game losing streak tonight with a 4-3 comeback win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The Bruins won a shootout, 3-2, with Michael Ryder scoring the clinching goal. Boston trailed 3-1 after two periods.

You can read the complete recap at Yahoo!

While Ryder doesn’t get credit for an eighth game-winning goal on the season, his score against Leafs netminder Vesa Toskala had the same effect. Ryder has certainly been a bright spot for the Bruins during the pre-All-Star break portion of the schedule.

Some other notes:

• Blake Wheeler did a heck of a job bouncing back from his lousy Monday performance. The rookie, back on a line with Ryder and David Krejci, scored a goal (to end an 11-game drought), created a great screen on a Dennis Wideman goal and scored in the shootout.

• Montreal lost, 5-2, so the Bruins lead the Northeast Division by 11 points.

• Maybe it was the element of surprise, by Martin St. Pierre getting the call inthe shootout worked — yet another stroke of “genius” by head coach Claude Julien.

• And by the way, Ryder was 0-for-2 on the season and just 1-for-11 in his career in shootouts before his big goal.