WINNIPEG — The Boston Bruins are pretty good at bouncing back after a loss.
Taylor Hall scored a power-play goal with 4:47 left in the third period to help lift the Bruins to a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
Boston is 18-4-2 this season following a loss. The team lost 4-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
“When you play, anyone who's competitive, you lose a game you want to come right back and redeem yourself and win,” said Bruins forward Charlie Coyle, who recorded three assists.
“That's stuff we always talk about when we go down. We lose one, we're chomping at the bit to come back and have a good game. And that's what you need, especially during these later stages of the season and in the playoffs.”
Hall took advantage of a bouncing puck in front of the net and put a rebound past goalie Connor Hellebuyck for his 13th goal of the season.
Brad Marchand, Trent Frederic and Charlie McAvoy with a shorthanded empty-net goal also scored for Boston, which was playing the third game (2-1-0) of a four-game road trip that ends Monday in Montreal. McAvoy also had one assist.
Linus Ullmark made 27 saves for the Bruins (38-19-5), who were without captain Patrice Bergeron (arm) for a second straight game. He was replaced by Jack Studnicka between Marchand and Jake DeBrusk.
The Bruins are 4-1-0 in their last five games.
Adam Lowry and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for Winnipeg (28-24-10), which had won four of their last five games heading into the match.
Hellebuyck stopped 41 shots for his team, which was starting a stretch of six games in 10 days. They travel to Chicago for a Sunday match.
“(The Bruins) stay above you, they forecheck hard, they make smart plays in the neutral zone,” Lowry said. “I think that’s been the story a little too often for us. You know, we turn pucks over at lines. We’re not direct, and we played pretty slow I think.”
Forward Andrew Copp was back on the ice for the Jets. He missed one game for precautionary reasons after taking a heavy hit in last Sunday's game against St. Louis.
Boston outshot Winnipeg 14-11 in the first period and 22-4 in the second.
Ehlers got a penalty shot 4:34 into opening period after being tripped by Mike Reilly. The speedy Ehlers chose to go in slow at Ullmark, who turned aside the shot with a pad.
“I haven’t taken a penalty shot in what, five, six years?” Ehlers said. “I don’t really know. You try different things. Five-hole, I’ve been pretty lucky with those in my career, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I was too slow in my movement before the shot.”
Both teams had a power play, with Hellebuyck making a quick stop on David Pastrnak, who was playing in his 500th career NHL game.
Winnipeg didn't get a shot on goal until 12:36 into the second period, while the Bruins had 15 at that point, including two that went into the net.
Marchand scored at 4:42 on a two-on-one with DeBrusk, collecting his 25th goal of the season.
Frederic made it 2-0 when he got beside Hellebuyck and put a backhand behind the goalie at 7:12.
“We don’t like losing,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said of his team's effort after a loss. “I think our guys the next night are usually ready to go.
“That first period was OK coming off a day off. They had good jump. We kind of battled back after a few early chances and we really found our footing in the second period. Then, obviously, the third was not perfect to start by any means. But again, we wanted to win and it showed.”
The Jets didn't start slow in the third period, putting 10 shots at Ullmark in the first six minutes and scoring on two of them.
Lowry tipped in a Evgeny Svechnikov shot at 2:29 and Ehlers made it 2-2 at 3:54.
Kyle Connor assisted on Ehlers' goal, extending his point streak to six games with five goals and six assists.
After Hall made it 3-2 at 15:13, the Jets pulled Hellebuyck for the extra attacker with 1:39 left. They got another body when Boston forward Erik Haula was called for tripping six seconds later, but McAvoy got his empty-netter with 31 seconds left.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2022.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
