Kyle Connor scored two goals in the third period to give the Winnipeg Jets their first lead of the night before Patrice Bergeron added his second goal of the game, but the Boston Bruins were defeated, 4-3, in a shootout on Tuesday after Connor converted on the only goal in the best-of-three round shootout post regulation-plus-overtime.
In simple terms, the Bruins lost on home ice in their first game back from the All-Star break.
Winnipeg accrued the victory in their second night of back-to-back games, having lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3, on Monday in the City of Brotherly Love.
Connor Hellebuyck (22-14-7 record, 2.85 goals against average, .880 save percentage in 38 games played) made 36 saves on 39 shots against for a .923 SV% in the shootout win for the Jets, while Jaroslav Halak (13-9-3, 2.49 GAA, .918 SV% in 27 GP) made 24 saves on 27 shots against for an .889 SV% in the shootout loss for Boston.
The B’s fell to 27-17-6 (60 points) on the season and remain in 4th place in the Atlantic Division. Meanwhile, the Central Division leading Jets improved to 32-16-2 (66 points) so far this season.
As a result of the loss, Boston is now 17-4-4 when scoring first this season and 18-1-1 when leading after two periods. Winnipeg improved to 5-13-0 when trailing after 40 minutes of action.
Prior to Tuesday night’s matchup, Boston placed Tuukka Rask on the injured reserve– retroactive to January 19th– and indicated their starting goaltender would at least miss the matchup with Winnipeg.
The Bruins recalled Trent Frederic, Peter Cehlarik and Zane McIntyre (on emergency basis) from their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, and assigned Ryan Donato and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson to the P-Bruins on Monday.
Cehlarik resumed play alongside David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, while Frederic (10-7–17 totals in 37 games with Providence this season) would make his NHL debut as the third line center– replacing Forsbacka Karlsson and lining up with Danton Heinen on his left and childhood idol, David Backes, to his right.
Other than that, Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, kept the lines the same with Joakim Nordstrom (non-displaced fibula fracture) and Rask (concussion) as the only skaters out of the lineup due to injury and John Moore and Steven Kampfer as Boston’s healthy scratches.
Mason Appleton was guilty of holding Noel Acciari at 5:30 of the first period and sent the Bruins on their first power play of the night.
Boston did not convert on the ensuing power play, but generated some momentum with some substantial zone time.
Moments later, Bergeron (15) opened the game’s scoring with his trademark bumper one-timer from between the hashmark and the face-off dot to Hellebuyck’s left side, giving the B’s a 1-0 lead at 9:49.
Brad Marchand (35) and David Pastrnak (30) notched the assists on Bergeron’s goal.
Nearly four minutes later, Brandon Carlo cross-checked Mathieu Perreault and presented Winnipeg with their first skater advantage of the night.
Five seconds later, Josh Morrissey (6) tied the game with a power play goal on a blast from the point after Mark Scheifele won the ensuing offensive zone face-off to kick off the skater advantage.
Scheifele (35) had the only assist on Morrisey’s goal at 13:53 of the first period and the Jets had tied the game, 1-1.
Zdeno Chara slashed Scheifele less than a minute later to suppress an otherwise surefire high-quality scoring chance that likely would’ve led to a goal against, sending Winnipeg back on the power play at 14:33.
Blake Wheeler tripped up Pastrnak shortly after the Bruins killed off Chara’s minor, resulting in a power play for Boston at 17:01 of the opening frame.
While on the ensuing power play, the B’s kept on the attack, pressuring the Jets penalty killers with every chance they got– keeping the puck down in the offensive zone for the eventual one-timed blast from Pastrnak.
Pastrnak (28) rocketed a shot past Hellebuyck to give the Bruins the lead, 2-1, on the power play at 18:33, with Marchand (36) and Torey Krug (28) tallying the primary and secondary assists.
After 20 minutes of play, the Bruins were outshooting the Jets, 20-8.
Winnipeg led in blocked shots (5-3), takeaways (3-2), giveaways (4-2), hits (11-6) and face-off win percentage (52-48) entering the first intermission, however, as both teams went 1/2 on the power play.
Boston would finish the night 1/3 on the power play after the Bruins couldn’t capitalize on Jacob Trouba‘s slashing minor at 6:50 of the second period, while the Jets did not see another second of power play time for the rest of the night.
Late in the second period, tempers began to flare.
First, Kevan Miller and Adam Lowry exchanged fisticuffs at 15:47 of the second period with both players receiving five-minute majors for fighting.
Then, after Tyler Myers held Frederic in a chokehold after a stoppage in play, the rookie center for Boston making his NHL debut found the nearest skater in a road sweater to exchange pleasantries with and introduce himself to the league.
Frederic picked a fight with Winnipeg’s Brandon Tanev at 16:16, landing some major right hooks and drawing the loudest applause of the night from the crowd.
Through 40 minutes of play, the Bruins still led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and in shots on goal, 25-17 (despite trailing the Jets, 9-5, in shots on goal in the second period alone).
Winnipeg held onto their advantage in blocked shots (12-8), giveaways (6-4), as well as hits (21-16), while the Bruins led in face-off win% (52-48).
Both sides recorded six takeaways each through two periods.
Early in the third period, Connor (20) snapped a shot under Halak’s glove while catching the B’s in the midst of a line change to tie the game, 2-2, at 4:27.
Myers (10) and Ben Chiarot (5) notched the assists on Connor’s first goal. He followed up with his second goal of the night just 34 seconds later.
For the first time in the game, Winnipeg led, 3-2, on Connor’s (21) goal from close range at 5:01 of the third period. Scheifele (36) and Wheeler (53) collected the assists as momentum swung defiantly in the Jets’ favor.
Past the midpoint of the third frame, Marchand sent a pass into the low slot intended for Bergeron, but Connor got his stick on the pass.
There was just one problem for the Winnipeg forward– he didn’t get enough of the puck.
Instead, the rubber biscuit deflected off of his composite materials into the perfect placing for Bergeron (16) to recalculate and squib an elevated shot over Hellebuyck as the Jets goaltender made a last ditch effort to stop the puck.
Marchand (37) and Pastrnak (31) had the assists on Bergeron’s goal as the Bruins tied the game, 3-3, at 11:39 of the final frame.
Despite another shift in momentum, neither team was able to put the game away in regulation.
Five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime wasn’t good enough either, as the Jets recorded two shots on goal in the overtime period, while the Bruins failed to challenge Hellebuyck past regulation.
Through 65 minutes of play, the score remained, 3-3, with the Bruins leading in shots on goal (38-27), giveaways (9-7) and face-off win% (55-45). Meanwhile, Winnipeg led in blocked shots (21-15), takeaways (12-11) and hits (31-23).
DeBrusk’s shot in the shootout was denied by Hellebuyck, but Connor’s backhand shot coming out of a nifty dangle was enough to get past Halak and give the Jets a, 1-0, advantage through one round of the shootout.
Pastrnak almost slid the puck past the Winnipeg netminder, but Hellebuyck spread his legs just enough to rob Boston’s All-Star winger– keeping his team ahead of the B’s in the shootout with the chance to win it if Patrik Laine could hit the twine.
Laine did not. Halak made the save.
Boston had one last chance with Marchand entering the attacking zone for his shootout attempt. His backhand shot was turned aside and the Jets players on the road bench poured over the boards to celebrate with their goaltender.
Winnipeg had won, 4-3, in a shootout.
Boston takes on the Flyers at home this Thursday night at TD Garden before heading into February.
And one more thing…
David Pastrnak recorded two assists in his first career All-Star Game appearance last Saturday and was the Accuracy Shooting winner at the NHL All-Star Skills last Friday night in San Jose, hitting all five targets in 11.309 seconds.
Down the Frozen River 
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