The Boston Bruins defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-2 after a wild third frame. Boston looked to be on their way to an easy victory, building up a 2-0 lead entering the third period.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, the Jets would respond early in the third with two goals of their own to tie the game and change the momentum.
That was until left wing Taylor Hall found a way to break the tie and take a 3-2 lead, which would hold until the final minute — Charlie McAvoy added an empty-net goal to put the game away for a 4-2 victory.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy pointed to the team’s ability to keep the puck in the opposing zone while attacking the inside.
‘We talked about getting to the interior against Winnipeg, they have some smaller defensemen, a couple of really big ones, but some smaller ones,” Cassidy said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “And statistically, they don’t defend the slot that well for whatever reason.”
Cassidy credited Charlie Coyle specifically for starting the party in the offensive zone.
“Charlie (Coyle) started that, he got inside, he lost the puck and he was heavy in there and Frederic cleaned it up, and that’s what got us going for those types of goals.
“Jake DeBrusk and Brad Marchand scored a nice one off the rush but the rest of that period we kept playing inside, we didn’t score again but we really tilted the ice in our favor, which allows our defense to rest.”
Here are more notes from Friday’s Bruins-Jets game:
–One player who really stood out was Coyle, who racked up three assists.
“He did a lot of what (Patrice Bergeron) would have done for us tonight,” Cassidy said. “And good for Charlie, I mean, he takes a lot of pride in his work and I’m happy to see him get rewarded.”
— Bergeron was out again with an upper-body injury. Coyle spoke on the absence and how the team rallied together to fill his role.
“No one can replace a guy of his caliber but together, it’s a joint effort, everyone is going to do their part and I thought we did that for the most part,” Coyle said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “You get some guys coming in and play and draw or playing center that haven’t played in a little bit. No (Curtis Lazar) last game.”
Lazar won five of six faceoffs in Friday’s win.
Coyle finished his statement with a simple message.
“It’s a complete effort by everyone around,” he said.
–Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark had a strong performance Friday, going 27-of-29 on save attempts, a .931 save percentage.
Ullmark spoke on the team’s perseverance after the game-tying goal in the third period, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage.
“I really liked our response after (the tie),” Ullmark said. “We got our stuff together and we went forward and then the power play came up huge.”
–Hall and Frederic made big-time plays to score two of the four goals on Friday.
The Bruins will look to start a win steak Monday against the Montreal Canadiens, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
