Bruins sent into hibernation

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This article was published 10/12/2024 (299 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets came out swinging Tuesday night — figuratively and literally — with a dominant, team-building performance that might just go well beyond the two points they collected in the standings.

An 8-1 beatdown of the Boston Bruins at Canada Life Centre left plenty of players black and blue, thanks to a third period that went off the rails and even had both coaches screaming at each other.

When the dust had settled and the goal horn finally stopped blaring, the home team had skated off its most impressive and lopsided victory of the year.

“I thought we played a hell of a hockey game,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel, who believes this can be a classic example of his group “building calluses” as he often refers to.

“There’s a lot of things that will come out of that game. The attack mentality of our five-on-five game. The attack mentality of our power play. Playing against a heavy team and playing the right way. Sticking up for each other,” he said.

“Those are all glue things that happen. Those are all things that build towards the future. I’m proud of the guys in all circumstances of that hockey game. We handled it extremely well.”

Winnipeg improves to 21-9-0 to sit on top of the NHL standings with 42 points. Boston, which entered play on a four-game winning streak, fell to 15-12-3.

“I think there was more directness,” captain Adam Lowry said of how his team, which had won just five of its past 13 games, turned the tide in such a significant way. “I think we were real quick through the neutral zone and the execution was there in all facets of the game.”

There’s plenty to discuss out of this one. Let’s get right to it.

About that feisty final frame

The ugliness began when Boston defenceman Charlie McAvoy caught Jets forward Cole Perfetti with a nasty shot to the head early in the third period. Fortunately, Perfetti appeared to escape any serious damage.

Winnipeg quickly capitalized on the ensuing power play to make it 6-1, and the visitors decided they weren’t going to go down without a fight.

On the ensuing faceoff, Bruins tough guy Trent Frederic, a veteran of 38 career scraps, went after Jets forward David Gustafsson, who has never dropped the gloves in his life, and caught him with a devastating blow to the face. Gustafsson was clearly concussed, unable to get up on his own, and needed assistance to leave the ice.

The Jets were incensed, with defenceman Logan Stanley fighting another Boston pugilist, Mark Kastelic, while Gustafsson was still down. Both were tossed out of the game for a secondary altercation.

“Trent plays a hard game. I’m not disagreeing with that. Guys that fight, we generally know who on the other team fights,” said Lowry.

“I think it’s just one of those things. Gus, I’m really proud of him for not backing down, but I think that’s a situation that he shouldn’t be put in in the first place. That’s what I was upset about.”

With Arniel and Bruins interim bench boss Joe Sacco exchanging heated words, Lowry then fought rugged Boston defenceman Nikita Zadorov right off the next faceoff.

“You see one of your teammates go down and obviously not thrilled with how it happened,” said Lowry. “I think you answer the bell and it just settles everything down.”

Winnipeg was up 3-1 entering the final frame, but reeled off five goals in a row as Boston seemed more interested in trying to get its pound of flesh.

“Stuff happens. Obviously you don’t want to see that happen to Gus, but at the end of the day our two big boys (Stanley and Lowry) settled it back down,” said Arniel.

“Once those two fights were done, it was done. I don’t like all the stuff that happens but it’s hockey. They’re pissed off at us, or where the score was at, of their game. At the end of the day I like that we stuck together.”

There was no post-game update on Gustafsson beyond the fact he was getting stitched up for what Arniel called a “nasty cut” and assessed by doctors.

Scheifele snub

You get the sense this game also got personal for Mark Scheifele. The star Jets centre, fresh off being overlooked for a spot on Team Canada, would never admit to having any extra motivation as he faced the Bruins.

But his performance spoke volumes and might have Don Sweeney — who happens to be the general manager of both the visitors and the national squad for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off — regretting his decision.

“You’re just happy to play a good game. Of course he’s the GM. But you just want to go out there and give it your all for your team and get a win,” said Scheifele.

“Obviously, we needed one at home here and I thought that was a great response there by all of us.”

In a game that featured plenty of talent that will play in the tournament — Connor Hellebuyck (USA), Kyle Connor (USA) and Josh Morrissey (Canada) from the Jets and McAvoy (USA), Jeremy Swayman (USA), Brad Marchand (CAN) and Elias Lindholm (SWE) for the Bruins — it was Scheifele who stood out the most.

He scored twice and added a highlight-reel assist to lead the way.

“Obviously some unbelievable plays. (Connor), great pass. (Morrissey) great pass,” said Scheifele. “It was just a solid effort, we went to the right areas and good things happened.”

Swayman, by the way, was likely looking for the nearest exit as he was left in for the entire 60 minutes, stopping just 27 shots that came his way.

Connor also had a big game, scoring his 16th of the year (tied with Scheifele for the team lead) and adding two assists. Morrissey had a helper, while Hellebuyck stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced. For the Bruins, Marchand and McAvoy each had a helper, while Lindholm was kept off the scoresheet.

Chibrikov makes an impact

Nikita Chibrikov was making his season debut for the Jets, one day after getting summoned from the Manitoba Moose. Playing on a line with Perfetti and Vlad Namestnikov, he certainly made a good impression.

Chibrikov recorded his first NHL assist on Alex Iafallo’s power-play tally in the third, then scored his second-career NHL goal to round out the scoring with just over three minutes left in regulation. Chibrikov, who lit the lamp in Game 82 last year with Winnipeg, did not look out of place at all.

“He’s fun to watch. He is. He’s a ball of energy. You can just see him, he’s always on the go, said Arniel.

“Made a nice play on the power-play goal, held onto it. Nice to see that shot there at the end. He’s just a fiery kid. His engine gets running and I’m glad he got out and got a chance to be in a game like that.”

The feisty 21-year-old Russian, who led the Moose in scoring, will get an extended look, especially with Nikolaj Ehlers still sidelined with a lower-body injury.

Power play heats up

It will get overlooked with everything else that happened, but Winnipeg’s power play woke up in a big way against the Bruins.

Namestnikov got it going at 12:09 of the first, Scheifele’s second goal in the middle frame also came with the man advantage, and Iafallo’s tally also came with a Bruin in the box. Add it all up and a team that was two for its last 18 on the power play went three-for-six on the night.

“We had a lot of good chances, and I think we could have had even more,” said Scheifele.

“We are moving it, we have guys in the right spot, we have guys filling in to areas in the right way. That was definitely a positive tonight.”

Winnipeg’s other five goals came at five-on-five, with Gabe Vilardi and Mason Appleton joining Scheifele (his first of the night), Connor and Chibrikov in that department.

Key play

Kyle Connor’s goal 75 seconds into the third period made it a 4-1 game and seemed to put actual hockey on the back burner for the undisciplined Bruins.

Three stars

1. Jets C Mark Scheifele: 2 goals, 1 assist;
2. Jets LW Kyle Connor: 1 goal, 2 assists;
3. Jets Gabe Vilardi: 1 goal, 1 assist.

Extra, extra

The crowd of just 12,921 was the smallest of the year for the Jets.

In addition to Chibrikov coming in for Brad Lambert (who was re-assigned to the Moose), the Jets also inserted Gustafsson in for Rasmus Kupari, and Ville Heinola in for Colin Miller.

Winnipeg is set to practice on Wednesday to prepare for Thursday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg