BSJ Game Report: Bruins 4, Jets 2 - Third line shines as Bruins ground Jets

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-2 win over the Jets, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES 

Bruins rebound in third to finish off Jets

For the first 40 minutes of Friday’s contest at Canada Life Centre, it looked as though the Bruins were poised to put Wednesday’s loss to the Wild in the rearview and run the Jets out of their own barn.

Entering the third period, the B’s not only held a 2-0 advantage on the scoreboard, but a lopsided 36-15 edge in shots on goal. 

Unfortunately, the Bruins once again made things hard on themselves over the final period of regulation — relinquishing two goals in the span of 1:25 and finding themselves back at square one against Winnipeg. 

Ideally, you would have liked this Bruins team, sans Patrice Bergeron once again, to handily take care of business against Winnipeg. But Boston capitalized in crunch time, with Taylor Hall putting Boston ahead for good at 15:13 in the third off a greasy power-play tally and the B's stymying a 6-on-4 bid for the Jets to seal in the deal.

Not the 60-minute effort that the Bruins were looking for, but Boston has shown a knack for delivering after a setback. With Boston’s win on Friday — their 11th in their last 14 games — the B's improve to 18-4-2 this season after a loss.

Bruins have a lethal third line: Yep, it’s time to remove any sort of “small sample size” label when it comes to this third line of Trent Frederic, Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith.

This bottom-six grouping has now logged 175:26 of 5v5 ice time together — and have outscored opponents, 10-1, during that stretch. And that’s with this triumvirate having just 40.68% of their faceoffs set in the offensive zone.

That’s a pretty extended stretch of action, and those results are spectacular, especially for a line that’s not exactly handed plenty of favorable on-ice starts. 

It remains to be seen what Boston’s top-six unit looks like after March 21, but the Bruins should be buoyed by the fact that they might have a lethal third line that’s ready to feast on some matchups come the postseason. 

The Coyle line was once again Boston’s strongest forward grouping on Friday night, with Frederic tucking home his fifth goal of the season — and Coyle recording three helpers. Boston really does seem to have something cooking here with these three.

Pastrnak returns from injury scare: Bruce Cassidy and the Bruins might have seen their 2021-22 season flash before their eyes in the closing minutes of the first period — as David Pastrnak had to exit the game due to what appeared to be a core injury. 

It was a bizarre sequence for all involved, with Pastrnak appearing to tweak something after Linus Ullmark dished a puck out to him that became tangled up in his skates. 

Pastrnak dropped to the ice near the end boards, grimacing in pain, before gingerly making his way back to the bench. At the next stoppage, Pastrnak made his way down the tunnel for treatment. 

Losing your top right wing for any extended stretch would be a doomsday scenario for the Bruins, especially with the postseason just six weeks away. Thankfully, Pastrnak was back out on the ice at the second period and still managed to log 15:48 of ice time. 

I’m sure the Bruins will be waiting to see how Pastrnak feels in the coming days. But all things considered, it seems like Boston has dodged a bullet here. 

THREE UP

Third Line: Regardless of what lineup changes happen between now and Monday, you just can't break this line up going into the final stretch of the regular season. Boston has a potential matchup nightmare in place with these three in the bottom six. 

Brad Marchand: With Patrice Bergeron missing his second straight game, good to see Marchand once again step up — burying his second goal in as many games on this road trip. Jake DeBrusk, in what could be his last game with Boston, deserves a stick tap for his slick set-up of Marchand’s 25th goal of the season. With his second-period tally, Marchand recorded his 344th career goal — tying him with Cam Neely for sixth-most in Bruins franchise history. 

Penalty kill: Boston managed to slow down a Jets power play filled with high-end talent, going a perfect 5-for-5 on the night and limiting Winnipeg to just six shots on goal over those five stints on the man advantage. 

TWO DOWN 

Erik Haula: A bit of a weird game from Haula, who found himself knocked down to the fourth line in the early going. Not exactly what you want to see from your 2C — especially given the dearth of available top-six pivots out there on the trade market. Getting whistled for a pair of penalties sure didn’t help his case, either. 

Lineup shuffling: Yes, the Bruins might have been without Bergeron, but some of these lineup switcheroos didn’t lead to positive results — especially with Boston up by two in the third period. Winnipeg’s first tally of the night came with the Forbort-Clifton pairing deployed with a forward personnel of Hall, Pastrnak and Tomas Nosek. It wasn’t a good shift for any of the five skaters out there.

PLAY OF THE GAME

If this was DeBrusk’s final game with the Bruins, he capped it off with one of the finest feeds of his young career. Just some insane hand-eye coordination here. 

LOOSE PUCKS

Matt Falconer always has his head on a swivel.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will close out their four-game road trip on Monday with a matchup against the Montreal Canadiens — just a few hours after the NHL trade deadline. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.