It's not often that the Bruins win in games that start before 7PM, but this season probably won't be one that follows many historic trends. The Bruins beat the Jets off goals from Brad Marchand in the first period and Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron in the shootout, while the Jets' only goal came from Chris Thorburn in the first period.
[Jets vs Bruins boxscore]
The Bruins came out sluggish to start the game, following a puck drop by Olympic champion Aly Raisman; despite their best efforts, the puck wound up in their own defensive zone more often than not. Dougie Hamilton, boosted to 23:27 of playing time tonight due to Dennis Seidenberg's leg injury, played well in his own zone, and the Bruins did manage to keep the Jets' shots on goal to a minimum (11 in the first period). Tuukka Rask stopped 10 in the first period, but one was able to get past him - a Chris Thorburn shot from about fifteen feet off to Rask's left side, off a nice feed from Paul Postma, his first NHL point. The Bruins didn't let the early goal sink them, and battled back to tie it about 15 minutes later. Tyler Seguin saw Brad Marchand close to the net, and one excellent pass later, Marchand hit the back of the net.
In the second period, the Bruins had numerous chances but were unable to bury any of them - including a few heart-stopping shots, including one by Aaron Johnson, that ricocheted off the posts.
"We hit a few posts, a couple fo really good opportunities, but it seemed like one of those games where the puck wasn't bouncing our way. We seemed to be getting really good opportunities off lucky bounces, but we did a really good job of staying with it. We have to credit ourselves with being able to get those opportunities, we had bodies in front and we played to our system, and we're happy with the outcome," said Brad Marchand after the game.
The third period went much the way the second period did, and ended with a penalty to Johnny Boychuk for high-sticking. In overtime, Zdeno Chara took an additional penalty for holding on old friend Blake Wheeler, but the penalty kill stayed perfect even at four-on-three, and the game progressed to a shootout.
Julien made the interesting choice of putting Chris Bourque in the shootout, and Bourque ended up being the only one to not score - Seguin took a page out of Patrick Kane's book to beat Pavelec, and Patrice Bergeron took a nice wrister to win the game - Wheeler scored for Winnipeg, and Brian Little's last shot appropriately hit the post to end Winnipeg's chance of winning.
The Bruins are back at it against the Rangers on Wednesday. Don't forget: viewing party at the Fours.