Beginning a short two-game road trip against the Winnipeg Jets Friday night (Dec. 22) at the Canada Life Centre, the Boston Bruins were looking to avoid a three-game losing streak. Back-to-back overtime losses to the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild after holding third-period leads have them limping toward the three-day Holiday break. They didn’t do themselves any favors against the Jets in terms of trying to turn things around.
Sloppy play in all three zones and untimely goals late in periods proved to be too much for the Black and Gold to overcome in a 5-1 loss against a Jets team that is playing the best hockey in the NHL right now. Here are three takeaways after Boston dropped to 19-6-6 with a loss at the hands of the Central Division leaders.
Bruins Have a Bad First Period…….. Again
Starting the short trip on back-to-back days, the Bruins needed a good start against the Jets. As has been the case multiple times this season, it didn’t happen. They were badly outplayed and lucky to be down just 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes, but more importantly, it set the tone for the rest of the game. This is becoming an all too common theme that needs to change.
Winnipeg outshot Boston, 10-6, outhit them, 10-3, and won 15 out of 23 faceoffs. What hurt the Bruins was their attention to detail, something that Jim Montgomery often talks about. Their passes were off, the defensemen had trouble clearing the puck out of the zone, they had bad turnovers in the defensive end and center ice, and when they were in the offensive end, Winnipeg had quick and easy zone exits. Thanks to Jeremy Swayman (nine saves in the period), the game was scoreless until eight seconds remained when the Jets opened the scoring.
Charlie McAvoy pinched in the offensive zone and tried to connect with Pavel Zacha at the opposite post, but the pass eluded the Bruins top center and sent Winning with an odd-man rush the other way. Swayman was able to make a save on the original shot by Gabriel Vilardi, but Josh Morrissey, who had a goal called back earlier in the period for kicking the puck into the net, was able to get enough of the rebound to get it across the goal line. It was a fitting way for the period to end.
Bruins Lose Special Teams Battle
Going into the game, the Bruins had a distinct advantage when it came to the special teams battle. Winnipeg’s penalty kill was ranked 27th in the league and their power play was ranked 24th. Boston’s power play has been clicking lately and their penalty kill was the top-ranked unit going into the game. Of course, it went the way you wouldn’t expect it to.
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The Bruins failed to score on both of their man advantages and the Jets went 2-for-3 and their first goal ended up being the backbreaker later in the second period. Again, lacking attention to detail, the Bruins were called for a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty in the offensive end late in the second period. Winnipeg scored with five seconds remaining on it when Nino Niederreiter was alone at the post and scored into an open net off a pass from Nate Schmidt for a 3-0 lead. In the third period, Niederreiter scored his second power-play goal of the game with 18 seconds left in the game. Not a good night in many areas, including special teams.
Winnipeg’s First Line Dominates
There were several factors for the Bruins’ loss, but maybe the biggest was the play of Winnipeg’s first line which continues to stay hot. Vilardi, Mark Scheifele, and Nikolaj Ehlers caused problems for the Black and Gold all night in the offensive zone.
Vilardi had a goal and an assist, Scheifele had a pair of assists and Ehlers had an assist. The line combined for 11 of the Jets’ 33 shots on Swayman. Going into the game, the Bruins knew how explosive Winninpeg’s top line was and Vilardi now has a goal in five consecutive games. The trio faced little resistance entering the zone, they cycled the puck and wore down Boston.
Bruins Quick Takeaways
- Swayman finished with 29 saves and one included a save on Scheifele on a penalty shot in the second period. With Winnipeg on the power play and before Niederreiter’s first power-play goal, Parker Wortherspoon caught the puck in the air in the crease, which is a big no-no. Swayman stopped Scheifele with a blocker save to give his team a little moment, but that was lost seconds later with the power play goal.
- The Bruins appear to have avoided disaster in the third period with injuries to two of their key players. McAvoy took a hit in the corner and immediately went to the bench with what looked like a shoulder injury. Seconds later in the offensive end, David Pastrnak was taken down and appeared to take a stick to the face. Both players returned and right now, any more injuries to anyone is the last thing the Black and Gold need.
- Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves on 25 shots with a third-period goal from Brandon Carlo being the only puck that got by him. Truth be told, there were not many high-danger chances for the Bruins in the entire game and it had to be one of the easier 24-save performances for the former UMass-Lowell goalie in his career.
There is no time to dwell on this one as the Bruins look to avenge their loss to the Wild on Dec. 19 in Minneapolis before the three-day break. Minnesota is playing very well right now and it only gets harder for Boston who is limping to the break over the last two weeks.