David Pastrnak recorded two goals and two assists in his second game back from injury, leading the Boston Bruins past the host Winnipeg Jets 6-3 on Thursday for their fourth consecutive win.
Following a three-goal first period for the Bruins, Hampus Lindholm (one goal, one assist) netted the eventual game-winner in the second.
Casey Mittelstadt, Sean Kuraly and Elias Lindholm each scored a goal, Morgan Geekie had two assists and Joonas Korpisalo made 26 saves en route to the victory.
Morgan Barron, Alex Iafallo and Gabriel Vilardi were the goal-scorers for Winnipeg, which has lost three straight and ninth of the past 11 games (2-8-1). Eric Comrie stopped 18 shots.
Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy saw his first action since requiring surgery to repair a facial fracture from being hit in the jaw by a slap shot on Nov. 15. He had an assist in 24:16 of ice time. However, fellow blueliner Jonathan Aspirot (upper-body injury) and forward Viktor Arvidsson (lower-body injury) were both lost during the game.
Winnipeg took a 1-0 lead 5:59 into the first period. Korpisalo made a pair of initial saves, including one on Josh Morrissey’s drive from the point to start the play, but Barron tucked the rebound through traffic from the right crease.
Boston needed a little time to take control, opening a three-goal spurt with two man-up tallies in a 2:04 span. At 8:24, Pastrnak wired home a game-tying wrister from the top of the right circle.
Mittelstadt gave the Bruins their first lead at 10:28, ripping Mason Lohrei’s cross-ice pass into the top of the net while stationed low in the right dot.
Just 40 seconds later, Kuraly extended the Boston lead to 3-1. Tanner Jeannot chopped down a puck at the offensive blue line, which led Kuraly down the slot to bury a backhand shot past an outstretched Comrie.
Iafallo brought the Jets back within 3-2 at 13:37 of the first. He drove along the wall and down toward the right post, where he lifted a close-range wrister over Korpisalo.
Hampus Lindholm gave Boston a 4-2 cushion when he teed up a slapper off a Pastrnak feed at 14:36 of the second period.
Winnipeg needed just 10 seconds of a power play late in the second period to make it a 4-3 game. With 2:14 left in the frame, Vilardi banged in a goal from atop the crease following Korpisalo’s initial save on Cole Perfetti.
Elias Lindholm upped Boston’s lead to 5-3 with 5:17 left in a low-event third period to that point. He slotted home Pastrnak’s one-time pass after Geekie beat out an icing call to start the sequence.
Pastrnak added an empty-net goal with 1:56 to go, giving him seven points across the past two games.
–Field Level Media
