The Boston Bruins go for their second straight win since David Pastrnak’s return from injury and fourth in a row overall when they continue a three-game road swing through the Central Division with a Thursday night visit to the Winnipeg Jets.
The 29-year-old Pastrnak showed no ill effects from a five-game injury absence in the Bruins’ 5-2 win Tuesday over former coach Jim Montgomery’s St. Louis Blues, recording three assists, three shots and a plus-2 rating while skating alongside 23-year-old Marat Khusnutdinov and 21-year-old Fraser Minten (two goals) on the third line.
“Just three young kids playing together,” Pastrnak joked. “It was fun.”
Pastrnak’s return meant additional lineup shuffling for first-year coach Marco Sturm, including a fourth-line combination of Tanner Jeannot, Mark Kastelic (two goals) and Sean Kuraly (two assists).
Kastelic and Minten each posted their first multi-goal games of the season. Pavel Zacha scored into an empty net to cap Boston’s three-goal third period.
Whether the lineup looks the same or different come Thursday, Sturm knows his team will take it the right way.
“For me, it’s just all about character. That’s what we have in this room,” Sturm said. “Some guys had to go down a line, and they didn’t complain at all. They just got the job done. That is what good teams do — they don’t complain, they just work.”
Pastrnak still leads the Bruins in assists (21) and is tied for tops on the team in points (32) with Morgan Geekie, who had four goals and four assists with Pastrnak out.
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy is trending toward his first game action since taking a slapshot to the jaw on Nov. 15 against the Montreal Canadiens. He skated in multiple practices this week and gained back some of the 20 pounds he lost while on a liquid diet.
“I am going on the trip with the expectation, I am hoping, that I’ll be able to get back in,” McAvoy said Monday.
The Jets are coming off a 4-3 loss Tuesday to the Dallas Stars in the opener of a four-game homestand. It was their eighth setback in 10 games (2-7-1) and second straight.
Mark Scheifele scored back-to-back goals in the second period to trim a 3-0 deficit and retake the team lead with 16 this season. Logan Stanley also scored for Winnipeg and Kyle Connor dished out two assists.
The Jets lost despite outshooting Dallas 33-19, and they continue to search for their first victory against a playoff-contending team since Nov. 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The next step is turning positives into wins.
“We liked a lot of our game. We were the better team and maybe deserved a little better, but that’s kind of the funk we’re in right now,” Stanley said. “We’ve got to keep battling through it.”
Going just 2-for-4 on the penalty kill and allowing at least one power-play goal for the sixth straight game proved to be damaging.
“The hard part is we didn’t get any clears when we needed to. And then when your penalty killers are that tired and they have a good power play, they’re going to move the puck around,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “As they did. As we did on ours. We caught their penalty killers tired at the end. It needs to be better. That was a heck of a game from us and to give up two PK goals, it’s the difference.”
Arniel has made line changes of late in hopes of generating more consistent offense, including Gabriel Vilardi moving down from the top line to join Adam Lowry and Nino Niederreiter.
On the injury front, Connor Hellebuyck returned for Wednesday’s optional practice for the first time since undergoing a knee procedure on Nov. 21. Eric Comrie has started nine of the 10 games in Hellebuyck’s absence.
–Field Level Media
