Bruins blast Jets 4-1

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This article was published 17/10/2016 (3262 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The luckless Winnipeg Jets couldn’t earn a break Monday night.

Although the Jets outshot Boston 35-25 and controlled the play for most of the first half of the game, they were plagued by a wonky power play and some defensive zone lapses in a 4-1 loss to the Bruins at the MTS Centre. It didn’t help matters that the B’s had a savvy veteran goaltender Tuukka Rask, who had two assists on the night, denying the Jets when it mattered most.

“It was the exact opposite of the last couple of games (where we had) not a whole lot of time in the O-zone but we were capitalizing on our chances,” said Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler. “We didn’t get the bounces that we needed at the right time. We were in control of that game until they score that goal at the end of the second period, and then I think we just felt like we spent a lot of time in the box in the third period and just couldn’t really get into a rhythm to try to tie it up.”

Winnipeg, coming off a disappointing 4-3 road loss to the Minnesota Wild Saturday night, generated more offensive push this time out and took an early lead thanks to Wheeler.

Wheeler was in stealth mode midway through the opening period. Bolting from the penalty box after serving a minor penalty to catch Alex Burmistrov’s perfect feed at the blue line, he broke in alone and froze Rask with a devastating deke before putting a forehand shot in the back of the net.

It was Wheeler’s third goal in three games, but, unfortunately for the Jets, it was Rask’s only weak moment.

Boston’s Dominic Moore tied the game only 19 seconds later, stuffing Tim Schaller’s goal-mouth pass behind goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.

“Sometimes, unlucky bounces end up on guys’ sticks, back door,” said Hellebuyck. “You like to do as much as you possibly can. I’m sure I’m going to watch it on video and dissect the crap out of it. And I’m going to figure out next time how I can make that save. I don’t think we’re going to let that happen too much. It’s early in the season, I don’t think we want to let too many of those slip away.”

Winnipeg’s power play showed signs of emerging from a funk when Mark Scheifele came close to capitalizing on Wheeler’s setup late in the first period — but Rask was up to the task.

The Jets, scoreless in three first-period power plays, had only one goal in their first 11 chances with a man advantage this season. That drought continued in the second with two more failed power plays.

“For most of this game, we played not bad. We were in the offensive zone and created some movement there, but weren’t able to put it in the back of the net,” said Jets centre Mathieu Perreault. “We had a lot of power plays early that we couldn’t cash in. We moved it around not bad but it’s certainly not good enough right now. So, we’ll have to work on it and try to get better.”

Jets head coach Paul Maurice had this to say about his club’s power play: “We were a little better on the faceoffs, which helped. We didn’t start with a breakout every time. We came up the ice better. Getting those pucks to the net a little cleaner and getting a few more of those scrums, heavy scrums, at the net are going to help us. But it was like the rest of our offensive game, it was quicker, had more recoveries off some shots to keep things alive.”

Boston’s eventual game-winner came in the final minute of the second when David Pastrnak’s centring pass caromed into the net off Winnipeg defenceman Toby Enstrom’s stick.

The tide turned more significantly in the third period with three straight power plays for the Bruins, who were playing without injured all-star centre Patrice Bergeron. World Cup hero Brad Marchand, a thorn in the Jets’ side all night, nearly made it 3-1, firing a glorious opportunity wide with 4:40 remaining in the game.

Nineteen-year-old defenceman Brandon Carlo added some insurance at 18:01, slamming the puck past Hellebuyck after the goalie pokechecked the ever-present Marchand. At that point, any chance of a comeback was dead.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara added an empty-net goal for the Bruins, who improved to 2-1-0.

 

A work in progress

The Jets have played from behind in all three of their regular-season games, something defenceman Tyler Myers said needs to be fixed.

“We’re working on our consistency and getting to that next level of work ethic, and I think it starts in practice,” said Myers. “I thought we had a little bit of a drop-off in the second (period), to be honest. It’s tough when you get to the second half of the third and you’re trying to battle back three games in a row. It goes back to working hard in practice, finding that level we need to get to to be more consistent.”

Maurice made an excellent call on a challenge after Chara’s long, looping shot from the point was hit Chiarot’s stick and was redirected over Hellebuyck’s shoulder 4:43 into the second period.

After a review, the Bruins were ruled offside and the goal, which would have given Boston a 2-1 lead, was disallowed.

 

Morrissey stands tall

Rookie Jets blue-liner Josh Morrissey continued his strong early season push with another solid outing.

Morrissey, 21, had 19:05 of ice time and registered four shots, two takeaways, one blocked shot and one hit.

“He has played three almost identical games for me,” said Maurice. “We know he skates and we know he can move the puck but where he’s been very strong is on retrievals in his own end and closing on his own end in the defensive part of the game. We know he’ll get  more and more involved in the offence.

“He clearly has to earn those minutes and he has. He’s at the 20-minute mark for his first three real NHL games where there’s something on the line and we are very, very pleased where he’s at.”

 

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca  Twitter: @sawa14