Scheifele’s pair dooms Bruins

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/01/2025 (244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BOSTON — It probably won’t be much longer before Mark Scheifele stands alone on this list, but that didn’t prevent him from taking time to soak in the moment.

The Winnipeg Jets centre scored twice on Thursday to lead his team to a 6-2 victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

In the process, he joined Ilya Kovalchuk as the franchise scoring leader with 328 career goals.

“A huge honour. Very, very special,” said Scheifele, who is up to 31 goals and 59 points in 53 games. “And (Kovalchuk) was a fantastic player. Like I’ve said before, I play with some pretty fantastic players that set me up in those positions, so all (the credit) goes to them.

“It’s very humbling. You grow up as a kid obviously hoping to play in the NHL one day, and to reflect on that is pretty special. I’m very happy to be part of this group of guys.”

The Jets close out a three-game road trip Saturday in what will be a first-place showdown with Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

Scheifele hit the 30-goal mark for the fourth time in his career and sits alone in second spot in the NHL for goals behind Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers.

“He realizes that he’s more of a threat when he’s in that mentality of shooting the puck,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “If you become somebody that’s sort of one-dimensional and just a passer, the tendencies for the defender to take your options away… Now Mark recognizes when he’s alone, or he has a chance to shoot the puck, he has such a great shot as you saw on that breakaway. When he does those types of things, it makes it hard to defend him.”

Let’s take a closer look at what transpired:

THE RESPONSE

The Jets had a much better start than they did Tuesday in Montreal, building a 2-0 lead before Brad Marchand got the Bruins on the board late in the first period with a power-play marker.

With the Jets on the power play to start the third, the Bruins won an offensive-zone draw and got a shorthanded marker from Elias Lindholm to tie the game.

Scheifele responded with a goal 11 seconds later, sparking a run of four unanswered goals by the Jets to earn a fifth consecutive victory as they improved to 35-14-3 for the season.

BUILT FORD TOUGH

He survived his rookie solo lap without falling, he was in the starting lineup and before the night was over, Parker Ford found a loose puck in front and deposited his first NHL goal past Bruins netminder Joonas Korpisalo at 5:57 of the third period.

How’s that for an NHL debut for a guy who grew up roughly 90 minutes from Boston and rooting for the Bruins?

“It was awesome,” said Ford, who replaced Morgan Barron (upper body, week to week) on the fourth line. “I couldn’t draw it up much better than this, honestly.”

Ford admitted standing on the blue line during the national anthems and waiting for the puck to drop was a challenge.

“That was probably the hardest part. Just sitting there, my heart is racing. Just gotta relax and settle into the game,” said Ford, who quickly settled in. “Yeah, I’d say right at the drop of the puck. Same game I’ve been playing my whole life. Once the puck dropped it was all good.”

Following the game, Ford was met by a large group of friends and family members who were on hand to share in his monumental moment.

Where’s the souvenir puck headed?

“Right to the fam, for sure. I threw ‘em a couple pucks in warmups, but hopefully that one will mean a little bit more,” said Ford, who was asked what went through his mind after seeing the puck go in and the red light go on. “Couldn’t really tell you, to be honest. Just blacked out a little bit. It was great.”

For those keeping track at home, Ford also scored in his first American Hockey League game with the Manitoba Moose back March 28 of 2023.

Ford’s teammates were thrilled for him.

“It’s amazing. That’s something he’ll always remember,” said Scheifele. “That’s very, very special, and obviously we’re all very, very psyched for him. He played great. Blocked some shots, (had) a good stick, did a lot of great things. And you get rewarded when you do that.”

“Ah, that was fun. Great to see for a hometown kid come in and get a chance to do that in this building,” added Arniel. “He contributed. He was good in a lot of areas. To score that goal was a bonus.

“But I liked that he was blocking shots, he did a good job in his end on the walls, getting pucks out, being responsible, and that’s what you hope when some of these young guys come up, that it isn’t overwhelming. I thought he did a great job of looking comfortable and doing what he needed to do.”

SECOND-UNIT STRIKE

It’s been said on multiple occasions one of the big reasons the Jets have maintained their position as the top-ranked power play in the NHL is both units have been productive.

The latest example was provided by the second unit on Thursday, with Vladislav Namestnikov finding a loose puck in front and slamming it home for his 10th goal of the campaign.

Cole Perfetti showed the attack mentality by getting the puck to the net, Nino Niederreiter got to his office near the blue paint and the puck landed on the stick of Namestnikov to complete the play.

Arniel felt the second line with Namestnikov, Perfetti and Ehlers (who added his 16th of the season by forcing Mason Lohrei to turn the puck over early in the third period) did a great job in the contest.

“I liked that line a lot better. I thought that the whole line, they certainly had a lot more zone time,” said Arniel. “They have to give us that kind of offensive output, so we’re a lot more dangerous than just Scheif’s line. You like to see that when we’re doing it all together like that.”

Namestnikov became the eighth member of the Jets to hit double digits in goals this season.

THE KEY PLAY

Scheifele’s second goal of the game came 24 seconds after the Bruins tied it on a shorthanded marker 11 seconds into the third period.

THE THREE STARS

1) Mark Scheifele, Jets, Two goals.

2) Nikolaj Ehlers, Jets, One goal, two points.

3) Parker Ford, Jets, Scores first NHL goal in his debut, one hit, adds one blocked shot.

EXTRA, EXTRA

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made his 41st start of the season and made 27 saves to record his 32nd win of the campaign.

“Helly’s Helly. He’s there when we need him. You’re not going through 60 minutes and not giving up chances,” said Arniel. “There’s going to be breakdowns, things happen, but he’s a wall for us.”

Kyle Connor rounded out the scoring with an empty-netter to hit the 30-goal mark for the seventh time in his career.

The Jets made one other change to the lineup, inserting Colin Miller on the third pairing with Logan Stanley, who moved over to his strong side. Miller, who suited up in his 37th game of the season, took 17 shifts for 12:34 of ice time, finishing with one shot on goal, one hit and one shot.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld