Jets focused on maintaining momentum after opening win over Bruins

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This article was published 09/10/2015 (3649 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEWARK – They’ve been here before, as recently as this time last year.

And so the Winnipeg Jets know better than to get all fat and sassy after opening up their 2015-16 season with a 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins. Same deal unfolded a year ago when the Jets opened their campaign with a 6-2 pasting of the Arizona Coyotes… and then promptly dropped four straight.

“There’s still room for improvement. It might have been 6-2, but it wasn’t the type of game for us and we know it,” said Jets centre Bryan Little Friday morning. “We had a slow start, which is uncharacteristic of this team. We made some mistakes and Pavs (Ondrej Pavelec) had to bail us out of them.

“We know we were kind of lucky to have the win we did (Thursday) night. We know what went wrong at the start of last year and we know we’re going to try and be a better hockey team than we were last night.”

“That game (against the Bruins) felt a whole lot different than the one in Phoenix,” added Jets coach Paul Maurice. “I think we were up 4-0 about eight-nine minutes into that game and spent the rest of the night in our end. The things that we had to fix became evident after Game 1 last year and I think we spent eight months trying to work on those.

“We’ll see. I don’t think anybody’s feeling too high here today after that game. We scored six, that’s great. Both teams probably could have scored five more. Back to work.”

The Jets will face the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center (6 p.m.; TSN3/TSN 1290) and for the second consecutive night will be part of a club’s home-opener celebration. The Devils named defenceman Andy Greene as their captain Friday. He replaces Bryce Salvador, who retired after last season.

“I played with Greener now for 10 years and I’ve had the privilege of kind of growing with him through the system and getting to know him and have seen him become a leader,” Winnipeg product Travis Zajac, named an alternate captain, told reporters after the Devils game-day skate. “He’s underrated in what he does for us both on and off the ice, the type of player he is, and it’s well deserved.”

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Michael Hutchinson will start in goal for the Jets and the lineup will remain exactly the same as the opener in Boston.

Jets forward Alex Burmistrov, meanwhile, has avoided any supplemental discipline from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for his first-period head shot on Bruins star Patrice Bergeron. Burmistrov was apparently given a warning by the league, but will not face a fine or suspension.

“That was my bad, that’s for sure,” Burmistrov said. “I’m really not that kind of player, being dirty like that. I hit him in the head and it’s a good thing nothing happened with him. I was going to hit him in the shoulder and it looked like he tried to go away and that’s what happened. Sorry.”

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait