The Bruins are simply finding ways to win.

With Charlie McAvoy out following his heart procedure, the Bruins needed things to come together against a Devils squad looking to stay near the top of the Metropolitan Division. Even with new defensive pairings and a not so crisp 60-minute effort, the Black and Gold found a way to extend their point streak to 17 games; surpassing the 16-game run during their Presidents’ Trophy triumph in 2013-14

Here is what we learned as the Bruins earned a 3-2 victory in their second to last game before the All-Star break.

Rask keeps Bruins unscathed after sloppy first period

For a team that played the night before, the Devils had their legs going early. The opposite was true for the Bruins, who were off for two days.

The Devils were relentless in puck pursuit and had their transition game going. The Bruins, meanwhile, made rather head-scratching decisions with the puck and had trouble transitioning out of their defensive end, en route to being outshot 20-9 in the first 20.

“Yeah, we didn’t have a great start. We didn’t have a great game,” Brad Marchand said postgame. “They publicly had an open, or a closed-door meeting last night, so we knew they were going to come out hard and play a good game and they did; you’ve got to give them credit. But, luckily we found a way to win and that all that matters.”

If it wasn’t for Tuukka Rask, the Bruins could’ve been down by at least two or three goals in the opening 20. But Rask fought through traffic and kept his team alive.

“It was just one of those games where you have to battle and stuff,” Rask said.

“They got shots through and they crashed the net hard. So a lot of times, you know the guys bump into you and nick your skates and stuff so you end up sideways and what not but it’s a battle. Sometimes goalies have to battle through stuff like that too and you just try to stay compact as possible.”

Bizzare clock malfunction highlights wild second period

This isn't how penalty minutes are supposed to work…#NJDvsBOS pic.twitter.com/8Ghfwiz8dY

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) January 24, 2018

The Bruins gave up the first goal for the sixth straight game on Miles Wood’s 13th of the season 2:05 into the middle stanza. That was just the beginning of a wild second period.

It wasn’t about the Bruins coming back to life on Riley Nash’s goal at 7:03 on a bad angle shot, nor was it about the dynamic duo of Patrice Bergeron (at 12:53 on a 5-on-3 power play) and Marchand (at 19:27) lifting the Bruins to a 3-2 lead to counter Damon Severson’s 2-on-1 tally at 9:03 that had everyone talking.

Instead, the most discussed moment came in the form of a clock malfunction that caused a 13-minute delay. A rather bizarre moment that included the penalty clock that counted Wood’s and Marcus Johansson’s time backward prior to Bergeron’s power-play tally. Initially, the delay backfired as the Bruins were out of their rhythm on the ensuing 5-on-3.

“I think we all knew what the penalty situations, including the officials. We just couldn’t get it going is my understanding,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. Maybe they couldn’t get it up on the clock. It seemed to take an awfully long time to resolve. At the end of the day, you’d think maybe you could find a way to use a stopwatch and keep the lines – but hey, they’ve got to get it right.

“After a while, I just wanted to get playing again. I do believe we lost some momentum. At first, I thought it was good because our first unit five-on-three got some rest and they were going to get a little breather, but then it got to the point where it was a bit too long of a delay, obviously.”

Being a scorekeeper has its perks, but it doesn’t come easy at times. Such was the case Tuesday night as the two teams literally went back in time.

Another accolade for the top line

Patrice Bergeron joined linemates Brad Marchand (21) and David Pastrnak (20) in the 20-goal club with this tally.

The B's are the only team in the NHL with three 20-goal scorers this season. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/gI1dfpf5cJ

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 24, 2018

Bergeron’s 20th of the season marked his fifth straight — and ninth career — 20-goal campaign. The four-time Selke winner became the third Bruin to score his 20th goal in 2017-18. His team-tying 20th of the season was short lived as Marchand retook the team lead surpassing both Bergeron and David Pastrnak following his highlight-reel game-winning goal late in the middle stanza.

One more before the All-Star break

The white-hot Bruins already have two wins under their belt against the Senators. They’ll look for one more win and get a step closer toward the team-record 23-game point streak (set in the 1940-41 season) Thursday night in Ottawa.

“We believe every single night, we have a chance to win games,” Torey Krug said. “We know it’s not going to be perfect. Every night, you’re not going to win games. Right now with the way that we are playing and the confidence in our system, our players are all playing confident as well…We have a chance to win every single game, so we are going to continue to look at it like that.”