The Bruins conclude their road trip with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday night at BellMTS Place. Overall, the Bruins have earned points in 13 of their last 15 games with a 10-2-3 record. The Bruins erased a two-goal deficit in the third period and scored three power-play goals but it wasn't enough.
Pregame notes
Injury updates: David Backes (leg laceration) is with the team on the road and skated in a warmup suit after the Bruins' morning skate on Tuesday. The veteran forward was named the Bruins nominee for the Masterton Trophy, which is given annually to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. ... Back in Boston, Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy and Jake DeBrusk have been skating at the team's practice facility. Chara and McAvoy are expected to participate in the team's morning skate on Thursday and it's possible both could return to the lineup against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Bruins forward Rick Nash has not been back on the ice.
Masked men: Anton Khudobin will start in net. He's 15-6-5 with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in 28 games this season. This will be his third career game (0-2-0) against the Jets. ... Connor Hellebuyck gets the nod for Winnipeg. He's 39-11-9 in 62 games this season, including a 2.36 GAA and a .924 SP.
Chrome wheels: Jets captain Blake Wheeler registered his 65th assist of the season on Sunday and he's tied for the NHL lead in that category. He needs five assists in his last seven games to set a franchise record for most assists in a season. Wheeler and former Atlanta Thrasher Marc Savard (69 assists in 2006-07) are the only two players in franchise history to reach 60 assists in a season.
Home sweet home: The Jets are 5-0-0 on their current homestand. Winnipeg leads the NHL in points at home with 60 (29 wins) and the Jets also own a league-high 146 goals on home ice this season. They've allowed only 95 goal at Bell MTS Place.
Rolling with the rookie: The Jets' Kyle Connor, who was named the NHL's third star of the week for the time period ending March 25, has seven goals in his last six games, including a pair of game-winners in overtime. He's tied for first in rookie goal scoring with 29 goals in 69 games.
Observations from the first period.
- Shoot the puck, Ryan Donato.
- A few solid stops by Khudobin early in this one.
- Good physical game early.
- That's a huge save by Khudobin on Patrik Laine. The Finnish forward normally scores on that play.
- That's a goal and the Jets have a 1-0 lead.
- After review it's a goal.
- A perfect example of Bergeron thinking defense first. He high in the O-zone and regains control of the puck and keeps a sustained forecheck.
- Khudobin keeping this game close for the Bruins.
- Boston getting the first power play of the game.
- Faceoff wins was something missing without Bergeron.
- Huge hit on David Pastrnak by Mark Scheifele.
- Boston registers five shots on the PP but Jets kill it off.
- Kevan Miller pinching effectively.
- Sick goal by Donato. Bruins ties with at 1-1 with 52.8 seconds remaining in the period. Uses his edges perfectly and snipes a backhand.
- Great backcheck by Danton Heinen.
- Game tied at 1-1 going into the first intermission.
- Only 16 seconds into the period, Brandon Tanev scores to give the Jets a 2-1 lead. It's his second goal of the game.
- Donato rings one off the post. Nice wrister through traffic.
- Brandon Carlo is playing with a ton of confidence of late.
- Joe Morrow with a blast from the point gives the Jets a 3-1 lead.
- Haven't seen Cassidy this fired up in a while.
- Pastrnak controls a turnover and attempts to go five-hole on Hellebuyck to no avail.
- Cassidy tweaking his lines. Pastrnak now with Krejci and Wingels with Bergeron.
- Breakouts, or lack thereof, hurting the Bruins right now.
- Great sustained forecheck by Riley Nash and Brian Gionta.
- Outstanding hustle by Noel Acciari to beat a possible icing call.
- Terrible hit on Matt Grzelcyk by the Jets' Josh Morrissey. Grizz needs help off the ice after being down for a while.
- Jets finish the second period with a 3-1 lead.
Observations from the third period.
- No Grzelcyk to start the period.
- Bruins begin the period with a five-minute power play.
- Heinen keeps the puck in the zone on an attempted clear and eventually finishes with a goal to cut Boston's deficit to one goal.
- Jets challenging offside.
- These take way too long.
- It's a good goal.
- Now the Bruins will have a 5-on-3 for two minutes.
- Pastrnak scores on the two-man advantage to tie the game at 3-3.
- Tanev with a shorthanded goal to register his first career hat trick to give the Jets a 4-3 lead. Awesome moment for the former Providence College standout.
- That area is unprotected on Krug, so that definitely stings.
- So Bruins get another PP.
- And Krug responds with a power-play goal to tie the game at 4-4. That's three power-play goals in this period. Donato with a big-time screen on Krug's shot.
- That's a clean hit by Miller. He got Tanev on the side and pushed him cleanly into the boards. That's a bad call.
- Huge PK by the Bruins.
- Going to overtime.
Observations from overtime.
- Can Marchand do it again in OT?
- Wow. He almost pulled it off in the closing seconds but he can't finish and this game is going to a shootout.