Jets 6, Bruins 2
BOSTON -- The Winnipeg Jets, forced to begin the season with four games in six nights on the road, ended the franchise's 13-game TD Garden losing streak with a 6-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in the opener for both teams on Thursday night.
The Jets, who last won in Boston as the Atlanta Thrashers on March 31, 2007, scored three goals in the second period and three in the third to clear out the sellout crowd.
Center Mark Scheifele, right winger Blake Wheeler, a former Bruin, and right winger Drew Stafford scored the second-period goals and goaltender Ondrej Pavelec stopped 29 shots in the win.
Trailing 3-1, the Bruins got a goal from right winger David Pastrnak 1:25 into the third period, but right winger Chris Thorburn took a pass from Stafford, went in alone on Tuukka Rask and flubbed a shot that popped past the goaltender at 5:17.
Jets rookie center Nicolas Petan, playing in his first NHL game, then had a pass from center Andrew Copp hit the back of his skate and go in with 10:09 remaining. Defenseman Alexander Burmistrov, earlier guilty of a hit to center Patrice Bergeron's head, scored into an empty net from his own end with 3:38 to play, giving him a goal and an assist.
Center David Krejci gave the Bruins a 1-0 first-period lead.
Rask, who did not play well but got little help from a defense missing injured Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg, made 26 saves in the loss and heard some mock cheers on his first save after the fifth goal of the night.
The Bruins came out flying and scored 5:36 into the game, just after the Jets had their first shot on Rask. Defenseman Ben Chiarot couldn't handle a fluttering puck in front and Krejci took it away and beat Pavelec with a backhander.
Pavelec had already robbed Bergeron and stopped 13 shots in the period.
In the final minute, Burmistrov elbowed Bergeron to the head. In the ensuing scrum, the Bruins wound up with their second power play and, after the periods changed, Rask stopped left winger Andrew Ladd on a short-handed breakaway.
But the Jets then struck at 5:26 and 9:17.
Scheifele took a pass from defenseman Dustin Byfuglien and beat a screened Rask for the first goal. Rookie defenseman Matt Irwin coughed the puck up to Ladd, who then fed Wheeler in front and it was 2-1.
Irwin and partner Zach Trotman looked clueless when left winger Adam Lowry set up Stafford in front with 2:21 left in the second period.
The Burmistrov hit will likely be looked at by the league for possible discipline.
NOTES: Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg, the anchors of the Boston defense, were missing from Thursday night's game. Chara was sidelined with an upper body injury and Seidenberg is recovering from back surgery. Asked about being without Chara, the team's captain, coach Claude Julien said, "We dealt with that last year. He was out for a while and you have to deal with those situations." ... The Jets were in town not long after rumors had D Dustin Byfuglien coming to the Bruins in a trade, but a deal now looks unlikely because of Boston's tight salary cap. Byfuglien and team captain Andrew Ladd both began their final seasons before free agency. ... The Jets continue a four-game trip at New Jersey on Friday before visiting the New York Islanders and Rangers. The Bruins play host to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday afternoon.