Bruins shut out Utah Hockey Club in Sacco's 1st game

BOSTON -- Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves for the Boston Bruins, who won Joe Sacco's first game as coach, 1-0 against the Utah Hockey Club at TD Garden on Thursday.

Sacco replaced Jim Montgomery, who was fired on Tuesday after posting a 120-41-23 record in three seasons.

“[It felt] pretty good, I’m not going to lie to you, obviously,” Sacco said. “To get our guys to get a win, too, was even more important. We feel better about ourselves, and I think how we went about the game tonight was like a business-like approach. I thought that we had a couple of individuals that really brought the energy to our group tonight to lift the bench at certain moments during the game, and just a good effort all around from our guys.”

Elias Lindholm scored for Boston (9-9-3), which ended a three-game losing streak. Korpisalo earned his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career.

“The guys played so well in front of me,” Korpisalo said. “Every [penalty kill], I saw every shot throughout the whole game. A couple bad rebounds, but they took care of it, pucks out, everything. No odd-man rushes, so it’s really, really fun to play behind the guys today.”

Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves for Utah (7-9-3), which has lost three straight.

“We should have been better offensively, at supporting the puck here and putting speed around them,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “We’re a fast team, and if we don’t create speed around the puck and around their defensemen, [it gets] easy to shut down.”

The Bruins had three power-play chances in the first period but failed to convert despite generating 10 shots on goal.

Lindholm gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 12:41 of the second period, corralling a net-front rebound and pushing it past Vejmelka on Boston’s fifth man-advantage of the game.

“It’s been a tough couple games, or a stretch here, for me,” Lindholm said. “Obviously, I haven’t played good enough, and yeah, hopefully that can help a little bit and get some confidence.”

Maveric Lamoureux nearly tied it for Utah at 11:51 of the third period, but his wrist shot went off the crossbar.

“It’s frustrating. I feel like a lot of guys are getting a lot of chances,” Utah forward Nick Schmaltz said. “Myself included, maybe just gripping the stick a little bit too tight, got to have a little more poise and confidence with the puck when you get those Grade-A opportunities.”

David Pastrnak appeared to score an empty-net power-play goal at 19:01 of the third, but it was overturned after an official review due to a high stick.

“I think it’s a good confidence thing,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said. “Knowing that, you know, we can play the right way and it is in here, and we can respond. You still hate the situation that had to arise for us to respond that way. It was a good game tonight, but it’s one game.”

NOTES: Utah defenseman Olli Maatta played his 700th career NHL game. He is the eighth Finnish defenseman to reach that milestone. Teppo Numminen (1,372 games played) has the most. … Sacco became the second coach in Bruins history to guide his team to a shutout victory in his debut with the franchise. Fred Creighton was the first in 1979-80. … Lindholm snapped a 17-game goal drought with his power-play goal in the second period.