Bruins blown out by Jets in brutal 8-1 road loss
The Boston Bruins’ five-game western road trip is off to an ugly start.
The Winnipeg Jets poured it on the Bruins in all three periods, scoring early and often in an 8-1 blowout victory on Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre. Jeremy Swayman allowed all eight goals for the Bruins, a career-worst total for him.
Penalties bit the Bruins early on in this one. The Jets power play made them pay for a double-minor high-sticking penalty on defenseman Brandon Carlo, as veteran forward Vladislav Namestnikov tucked in a golden rebound opportunity to make it 1-0 at the 12:09 mark of the first period.
Winnipeg’s next strike would come at five-on-five, after the Bruins couldn’t quite break up the play enough to clear the puck out of their own zone. Kyle Connor made a slick saucer pass to Mark Scheifele in the slot, where the centerman buried his one-timer to put the Jets up 2-0.
Scheifele and his deadly shot cashed in on another Jets power play, this time in the second period, to make it 3-0. But just 2:11 later, the Bruins returned the favor. David Pastrnak potted his 10th goal of the season on a B’s man advantage, ripping a one-timer top-shelf past Connor Hellebuyck.
Pastrnak was due for a power play tally, as it was his first in 20 games dating back to Oct. 26 against Toronto. He’s picking up steam offensively as of late, with points in five straight and nine points in his last seven games.
Connor hit the Bruins with a back-breaker just 1:15 into the third period, extending the Jets’ lead to 4-1 with a one-timer from the slot. Gabriel Villardi scored less than five minutes later to make it 5-1, and Alex Iafallo extended the lead to 6-1 less than two minutes after that.
At that point, the Bruins’ anger spilled over into a pair of fights in the same stoppage, as Trent Frederic dropped David Gustafsson and Mark Kastelic scrapped with Logan Stanley. Kastelic and Stanley were both ejected from the game for their fight.
Not to be outdone, Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov dropped the gloves with Jets captain and fellow heavyweight Adam Lowry right after the next faceoff. This will go down in the game summary as three fights in a span of two seconds, and 50 total penalty minutes.
For good measure, the Jets later scored twice in a span of 10 seconds to make it 8-1. The game was long in-hand for the Jets by that point.
Up Next: The Bruins will try to regroup and get back in the win column on Thursday night in Seattle, when they take on the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
