
Ugly ending.
The Boston Bruins fell apart at the seams as the Winnipeg Jets scored four unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the Bruins, 6-2, at the TD Garden on Thursday night.
Elias Lindholm tied a close game seconds into the second period shorthanded, but then the Jets opened the floodgates to another ugly loss for the Bruins.
Mark Scheifele scored twice while four other Jets added a tally each, include Parker Ford and his first goal in his NHL debut.
The Jets and their league-leading power play scored the first of two on the man-advantage in the first. Scheifele netted his first of the night with a tip in for the two-goal lead before Brad Marchand cut into his team’s deficit on the power play.
After a scoreless third period that saw the Bruins competitive on the shot clock with their opponent and increasing offensive=zone time, they would start the third on the penalty kill.
Just 11 seconds into the third, Elias Lindholm tied the game. His moment was shortlived as Scheifele gave the Jets the go-ahead on the power play for the first of four unanswered goals.
The Jets were up 5-2 with under six minutes of play into the final frame. The Bruins ended the game on the penalty kill and an empty-netter closed out a 6-2 win for Winnipeg.
Here are the highlights:
First period:
Cole Perfetti sent a shot at net, Nino Niederreiter picked up the rebound and sent the puck to Vladislav Namestnikov was left unmanned for a backhander into the netting past Korpisalo at 2:55 of the first period on the power play. 1-0 Jets.
Mark Scheifele redirected Neal Pionk’s long shot from point past Korpisalo at 11:31 of the first period. 2-0 Jets.
Just 15 seconds into their power play, Elias Lindholm fed a pass to Brad Marchand who beat Connor Hellebuyck’s glove at 15:34 of the first period. 2-1 game.
Second period:
No goals
Third period:
Pavel Zacha won an offensive-zone faceoff draw to Elias Lindholm where he fired a quick shot past Hellebuyck for a shorthanded tally 11 seconds into the third period. 2-2 game.
Moments later with a give-and-go, Mark Scheifele gave a pass to Nikolaj Ehlers and then Scheifele received one back in the slot for a snap shot past Korpisalo 35 seconds into the third period on the power play. 3-2 Jets.
Then Mason Lohrei tried carrying the puck out front and Ehlers poked it away near the goal line for the puck to roll past Korpisalo’s skate at 1:17 of the third period. 4-2 Jets.
Parker Ford found a loose puck out front for his first NHL goal at 5:57 of the third period. 5-2 Jets.
Kyle Connor added a shorthanded empty-netter at 19:23 of the third period. Final score: 6-2 Jets.
Game notes
- It feels like we’ve been here too many times before this season as the Bruins just collapsed in the third period after playing some pretty good hockey for about 41 minutes. “We gave up some opportunities, but we had some opportunities,” Interim head coach Joe Sacco said. And that breakdown led to four unanswered goals and three in a span of about five and a half minutes.
- Sacco said he felt like his team was still in a good position in the third after the Jets scored their second power-play goal of the night to make it a 3-2 game just moments after the Bruins had tied it. He said there was plenty of hockey still left only 35 seconds into the period. But another quick goal hurt. “Then we gifted them on that fourth goal,” Sacco said. “It’s a good forecheck, but we have to make the right decision there with the puck,” he added about Lohrei’s decision to cut into the front of their goaltender.
- Sacco said he feels the Bruins need to continue to work on cleaner entries. He said they haven’t been able to set up, get attackers to the net and they need to simplify their game. He did feel the power play is moving in the right direction, scoring in the last two games.
- Marchand was asked postgame if he feels frustrated with how things are going: “It’s something we’re going to continue to work through,” he said We don’t have a choice to look back and feel sorry for yourselves.”
- The Bruins have lacked consistency and Marchand responded to how he is viewing lows after a few good games. “It’s been a different year,” he said. “We’re facing a lot of adversity in this group this year and we don’t have a choice but to work through it. You can’t get caught up in frustration. None of us are happy about where we’re at and the position we’re in, especially considering where we expected it to be to start the year. But you can’t focus on that…We can’t get caught up in it. Are we happy where we’re at? Absolutely not…We haven’t played to our standard.”
- The Bruins are back on Saturday at the TD Garden for a 3 p.m. start against the NBew York Rangers.