The Winnipeg Jets fell to the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Monday night from TD Garden.
The Winnipeg Jets fell to the Boston Bruins 4-1 from TD Garden in a battle between the league's two top clubs on Monday night.
Boston, entered the night with 28 wins in 45 games, while Winnipeg began play with 30 victories in 44 tries.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored the lone Jets marker, as Connor Hellebuyck made 17 stops, but gave up three goals, coming up short of Boston.
The loss was Winnipeg's second in its past four games, but also just the club's second in its past 13.
The Jets' streaks of games with both two or fewer and three or fewer goals against came to an end at 14 and 34, respectively.
An action-packed opening frame made up most of the game's action between the league's top-two teams, in terms of win percentage.
Jakub Lauko opened the scoring just 2:20 in on a net front scramble in front of Hellebuyck. The puck eventually landed on his stick, and he made no mistake putting it into the net.
But the Jets responded rather quickly on a goal initially credited to defender Dylan DeMelo. His long range one-timer was redirected by Namestnikov, beating Jeremy Swayman just 2:04 later.
Then, with just 1:34 remaining in the opening frame, Charlie Coyle redirected his 17th of the year past Hellebuyck, concluding the frantic first period of scoring.
The middle stanza saw the Jets kill two penalties after Winnipeg had two unsuccessful power plays of its own in the opening frame.
Despite the three goals in the first period, and a number of Bruins opportunities in the second, the score remained 2-1 through 40 minutes, with Boston holding a slight 15-10 shot lead.
Although missing top-line forwards Mark Scheifele and Gabe Vilardi, the Jets came out firing in the third, and actually pulled ahead on the shot chart by the midway point. But it was all for naught.
Nino Niederreiter found himself in the penalty box for hooking with just 7:32 left in the third, but the Jets were able to fend it off in a must-kill situation, actually drawing a penalty in the process.
But against all odds, the Bruins scored the dagger while shorthanded just moments after Niederreiter stepped out of the box.
A sloppy Nate Schmidt turnover led to a loose puck scramble in the defensive zone, to which Jake DeBrusk pounced on the loose puck. He blasted it right through Hellebuyck, giving the hosts a 3-1 led with 5:25 remaining.
The goal put an end to Winnipeg's 14-game streak allowing just two or fewer goals against, while its 34-game streak of just three or fewer goals against hung in the balance.
Hellebuyck made his way to the bench for the extra attacker with two minutes left, but it was Boston that put the finishing touches on the Bruins' 4-1 win. Josh Morrissey bobbled the puck to which the Jets couldn't recover.
The loss moved Winnipeg to 30-11-4 on the year, while Boston picked up its fifth-straight win.
“You know, one thing about the power play that you’ve got to keep in mind, is that we have never had the chance to work Mark, KC and Gabe together. One of them has been hurt the whole time." Bowness said of his special teams.
"The second unit hasn’t been a problem. But in fairness to those guys, can we do a better job? Yes. There’s no question. I think we can shoot the puck a lot more. When we finally do get the chance to put Mark, Gabe and KC on the same unit with Nik, I think it will turn around. The second unit has been pretty good but we weren’t good enough with it tonight. But it’s just something that we’re going to have to stay on top of.”
Hellebuyck finished the night with 17 saves on 20 shots from Boston, while Swayman made 21 stops on the 22 pucks fired his way by the Jets.
Next up for Winnipeg is final stop of the three-game Eastern Conference road trip on Toronto on Wednesday evening. The Jets will then take on the Maple Leafs at home on Saturday night in the second half of the home-and-home to conclude the unofficial first half of the season.