Birthday boy Charlie McAvoy threw his own party tonight during the shootout, scoring the game-winning goal to give the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets at the TD Garden.
Tonight the Bruins’ eighth ranked penalty kill started off the first period with two big kills against the NHL’s third ranked power play, and later found themselves on a power play late in the period, where they had a few decent looks but were unsuccessful at putting the puck away.
The second period brought on more of the same back and forth, marathon type hockey, where the Bruins and Jets exchanged blows, puck possessions and shots on net. Both teams found themselves to be unsuccessful once again on the power play.
On a night where the Bruins welcomed the Jets to Boston without David Krejci, Riley Nash and Ryan Spooner, they were left with the decision to call up Colby Cave from Providence to center a third line featuring fellow rookies Jake DeBrusk and Anders Bjork.
Almost nine minutes into the third, Torey Krug wristed one in from the point with help from a Noel Acciari screen, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead. But 57 seconds later, Patrick Laine put one in the back of the net for the Jets, following a lost possesion behind the Bruins net that eventually found its way to the front of the net after some quick puck movement by the pressuring Jets.
With just 2:35 left in the game, Patrice Bergeron sauced a helluva pass to a flying Brad Marchand, who got nailed on an offsides, when he would’ve had a clear break-away to the net.
After a scoreless overtime, the Bruins went to their third shootout of the year. Bryan Little of the Jet was first to score in the first round of shooters, but the Jets failed to score in the next three go-arounds. David Pastrnak followed up in the second round with a goal and birthday boy Charlie McAvoy eventually put in the game winner, low blocker side in the final go in the forth round. McAvoy now has eight points over the last 11 games.
Birthday cake for everyone. ???? pic.twitter.com/4mNusLxNuF
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 22, 2017
Tuukka Rask made 37 saves in net in the Bruins third straight win, bringing their record to 7-2-1 over the last 10 games.
UP NEXT: The Bruins welcome the Detroit Red Wings to the TD Garden for a matinee affair this Saturday afternoon. Catch the call of the game with Judd Sirott and Bob Beers live on 98.5 The Sports Hub with pre-game coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. and face-off set for 1:00 p.m.
— By John ‘The Dude’ Hardiman, 985TheSportsHub.com