The Bruins probably can’t wait to get back to home.
Riding a 19-game point streak when they left Boston on Saturday night, the Bruins proceeded to drop all three games on their road trip, capped off by a 4-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at Bell MTS Place.
The Bruins fell behind 2-0 in the first period but eventually pulled level by the midway point in the second. However, the Jets scored a pair of goals in the third to earn the win.
Charlie McAvoy, Joakim Nordstrom and Charlie Coyle accounted for Boston’s goals. Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for Winnipeg.
Tuukka Rask made 20 saves for the Bruins, while Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck turned away 35 shots.
The Bruins fall to 42-20-9 with the loss, while the Jets climb to 41-25-4 with the win.
Here’s how it all went down:
JETS COME OUT HOT, BUT B’S FIGHT BACK
There was no shortage of scoring right out of the chute, with the Jets owning a 2-1 lead at the conclusion of the opening period.
Just over a minute into the game, the Jets got the puck in their defensive zone and broke out on a 3-on-2 as they dashed into their offensive end. Scheifele fed a puck cross-ice to Patrik Laine, who threw a shot on net. Rask blocked the attempt but left a juicy rebound, and Wheeler was right at the crease to bat in the game’s first goal just 68 seconds after the opening puck drop.
Although the Bruins did show a little bit of life near the midway point of the stanza, it was sucked out thanks to Laine-Scheifele-Wheeler again.
With Noel Acciari in the box for holding, Wheeler zipped a pass across the ice to Laine as he dashed into the offensive end. After holding the puck for a moment, Laine sent a pass to the far post, and Scheifele was there to meet it and finish it, doubling Winnipeg’s lead at 11:24.
With time winding down in the first, the Bruins answered.
A nice forechecking effort from David Krejci and Paul Carey allowed Boston to keep the puck in its attacking end. Upon Krejci winning the puck at the half boards, McAvoy pivoted at the blue line and started darting to the net. McAvoy received a pass from Krejci and kept skating to the upper edge of the circle, where he wristed an absolute snipe past Hellebuyck with 2:37 left in the period.
NORDY EVENS IT
With the Bruins trailing 2-1 entering the second period, Nordstrom accounted for the middle 20 minutes’ lone goal to send the game into the third locked up at two.
Sean Kuraly skated around the back of the net and up the half boards with the puck, and after reaching the edge of the circle he turned and put the puck on net. After Hellebuyck turned the shot away, Nordstrom and Acciari both took hacks at it but also were stopped. The puck remained loose right on the doorstep though, and Nordstrom deftly poked home the equalizer right at the 10-minute mark.
The much-deserved goal finished off what was a pretty sharp, blue-collar shift for the Nordstrom-Acciari-Kuraly line.
Nordstrom has been among the Bruins’ best defensive forwards this season, but it certainly must’ve been a relief for him to contribute a goal and snap a goalless streak that dated back to Dec. 17.
JETS POT A PAIR AND WIN
A pair of goals by Winnipeg allowed it to win the third period and the game.
With the Jets darting toward their attacking zone in transition, the Bruins allowed Scheifele to dance right up the middle of the ice with the puck. Once he crossed the blue line, Scheifele fed a pass to Trouba, who was crashing the net. The puck hit off Trouba’s skate and into Rask, but the defenseman quickly cleaned up the rebound at 7:38 to put the Jets up 3-2.
The hosts put the nail in the coffin a few minutes later.
Brandon Carlo was unable to win a puck in the corner, and it kicked out toward the bottom of the face-off circle. Neither Danton Heinen nor Kyle Connor could gain possession as they fought for the puck, which eventually trickled out to Ehlers, who one-timed the Jets’ fourth goal home at 13:02.
The Bruins showed some life in the waning moments of the game, however.
With just under three minutes to play, Zdeno Chara one-timed a rocket from the point. Coyle was at the front of the net, and he managed to get a piece of the puck and redirect it past Hellebuyck to cut the deficit to 4-3.
It was Coyle’s first goal with the Bruins.
The Bruins pulled Rask in search of an equalizer, but it never came.
UP NEXT
The Bruins will return home for a tilt Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET.
This Bruins Wrap is presented by Plainridge Park Casino.
