Tyler Seguin returned to life and grabbed the team lead in goals back from Brad Marchand with his strongest period in recent memory, but Tim Thomas looked a bit rusty after taking 11 days off and Dallas won the first 20 minutes of the New Year's Eve battle, 2-1.
Seguin's team-leading 15th goal came while the Bruins were between lines. David Krejci threaded a pass that Seguin finished, but it was downhill from there for Boston.
The Bruins, who hadn't trailed in a game since December 10th, found themselves unable to control their emotions, giving Dallas an early extended 5-on-3 power play, which Loui Eriksson converted on, beating Thomas high on the glove side.
Later in the period, a fortunate bounce off a Trevor Daley shot made it over Thomas and into the Boston net, giving Dallas their intermission lead. Braden Morrow got Zdeno Chara's attention and the Boston captain found himself in the box. Just a minute later, Michael Ryder converted the team's second power-play goal of the year when he got Thomas out of position and neatly deposited the puck into the net.