BOSTON — Coming off a 10-day break, the Boston Bruins couldn’t have asked for a much better opening 20 minutes against the Winnipeg Jets at TD Garden.
The B’s fired 20 shots on net, finding twine twice as they got their feet under them following the long break.
While they faltered in the third period, and lost 4-3 in a shootout, the Bruins felt good about where their legs were as they embarked on the second half.
“Anytime you have that much time it’s definitely going to be good for the body and you’re going to feel re-energized,” Patrice Bergeron said. “I guess the other side is you gotta make sure you get your feelings back on the ice and making sure you get your rhythm back. I thought that was actually a strong game from that side of things.”
That certainly was the case for Bergeron’s line, as the center potted two goals, while David Pastrnak (one goal, two assists) and Brad Marchand (three assists) each contributed multi-point nights.
“There wasn’t much rust,” Marchand said. “I thought we had a good first game back, it was kind of just unfortunate the way it kind of played out in the third. We have to be a lot better a closing out games.”
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy also liked what he saw for the majority of the night, as the Bruins built up a sizable 39-27 shot advantage.
“I thought it was very good for most of the night,” Cassidy said. “I thought we had the better of the play. So when you look at the big picture, that part of it, lot of positives. We were physical. We answered the bell when we needed to. I don’t think we had any passengers.”
And aside for 34 seconds in the third period, when Kyle Connor netted two goals to flip things from a 2-1 Bruins lead to a 3-2 Winnipeg advantage, Boston pushed the pace.
“You gotta be careful you don’t beat yourself and I think there was a little bit of that tonight,” Cassidy said. “No disrespect to Winnipeg, they are one of the best teams in the National Hockey League but I think some of it was self-inflicted, the good teams don’t do that. So we have to correct that.”
Here are some other notes from Tuesday’s Bruins-Jets game:
— With Tuukka Rask on the shelf with a concussion, the Bruins turned to Jaroslav Halak in net. The 33-year-old netminder was outperformed by his counterpart Connor Hellebuyck.
Halak was not called on much in the first or second periods, but could not come up with a big stop on either of Connor’s third period chances.
“Obviously we needed a big save on one of those two, didn’t get it,” Cassidy said. “End up in the overtimes and the shootouts and those can go either way.”
After a strong start to the season, Halak has slipped a bit in net.
— After starting the new year on a four-game winning streak, the B’s now are 2-3-2 in their last seven contests.
