Jets rally to beat Bruins
Final Score:
Boston Bruins 1, Winnipeg Jets 3
The Bruins again had a third-period lead but couldn’t close out a win. The Bruins (19-6-3) fell to the Jets (16-12-2), in a 3-1 loss on Tuesday night at the MTS Centre. The Jets struck twice in 57 seconds to erase Boston’s 1-0 third-period lead and added an empty-netter. On the heels of Sunday’s setback in Pittsburgh, the Bruins suffered back-to-back regulation losses for the first time this season.
Brad Marchand netted the lone goal for Boston and Tuukka Rask made 22 saves.
Highlights:
- It’s the fifth time this season the B’s have lost after holding the lead after two periods, which is uncharacteristic of Boston, especially after it posted a 32-0-0 record when leading after two periods during the 2011-12 season.
- Adam McQuaid suffered an upper-body injury at 2:39 of the first period and did not return. Boston was forced to play the remainder of the game with five defensemen. The B’s already are without the services of David Krejci and Chris Kelly.
- The B’s recalled 21-year-old forward Ryan Spooner who replaced Krejci alongside Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. Spooner played his second career NHL game and finished with 15:29 of ice time.
- Boston went 0-for-4 on the power play and after killing off 26 consecutive penalties, the Bruins allowed a power-play goal from former Bruins player Blake Wheeler.
Players of the Game:
- Brad Marchand put the B’s on the board, scoring his 13th goal of the season only eight seconds into the second period. Marchand showed quick reactions when he pounced all over a Winnipeg turnover and beat Ondrej Pavelec with a backhander.
- Pavelec made 27 saves and kept the Winnipeg club within a goal deep into the third period. He submitted point-blank saves on Patrice Bergeron in the first and Zdeno Chara in the third.
- Blake Wheeler tied the game by scoring a power-play goal with 8:16 left in regulation. Wheeler, who has six goals in his past five games, also added an empty-netter in the final seconds.
Quote of the Game:
“Extremely disappointing,” said coach Claude Julien in his post-game press conference. “For 2 1⁄2 periods, I thought we did a great job and had control of the game. But to give them that next goal within the next minute shouldn’t be acceptable from our end of it. We should be better than that.”
Looking Ahead:
The Bruins will be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Ottawa to face off against the Senators (15-8-6) at Scotiabank Place. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. This is the third of five games the two teams will meet this season. Boston defeated Ottawa in its first two meetings with a 2-1 OT win on Feb. 28 and 3-2 shootout win on March 11.
