Jets end eight-year dry spell in Boston

[October 09, 2015]  BOSTON -- Winnipeg captain Andrew Ladd had no idea how long it had been since the Jets, formerly the Atlanta Thrashers, had won at TD Garden.

Told it was 2007, Ladd said, "Since we won here? Really?"

He added, "Oh. Nice."

The Jets opened the season with a 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, ending a 13-game losing streak in Boston.

"I'd never won since I got traded here, so I know it had been at least five years," said right winger and former Bruin Blake Wheeler, who scored the second of the Jets' three goals in the second period. "It's never easy. This is a tough game to win. These guys play such a tough game.

"We knew coming in it was going to be a battle and we were fortunate to come out with two points."

Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec made 29 saves, basically keeping the Jets in the game during a first period that saw the Bruins take a 1-0 lead just 5:28 after the puck dropped on a goal by center David Krejci.
 

"Our goaltender was the reason we were in the game after the first period," said Jets coach Paul Maurice, whose team won in the first of four road games in six nights to open the season. "Then we got off the plane and off the bus and started to skate, incrementally, shift by shift, better and we were a pretty darn good team after that."

Ladd said, "I thought our goaltender kept us in the game there in the first period."

The Jets, who last won in Boston as the Atlanta Thrashers on March 31, 2007, got goals from six different players and cleared the sellout crowd out early.

Center Mark Scheifele, Wheeler and right winger Drew Stafford scored the second-period goals and, after right winger David Pastrnak made it 3-2 at 1:25 of the third period, right winger Chris Thorburn took a pass from Stafford, went in on a semi-break against Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask and flubbed a shot that hit Krejci's stick and popped into the goal at 5:17.

"Just kind of a tough night," Krejci said. "I got a stick on it and it just went in. Just tough luck."

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. Winnipeg 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.

Stafford also had an assist.

Rask, who didn't 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.

"I liked our first period. I thought we played well," said Bruins coach Claude Julien, who lamented scoring only one goal in the period. "Then the second period they came out and kind of took over and we started making some defensive mistakes."

In the final minute of the first period, 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 Ladd on a short-handed breakaway.

Then the game turned.

The Burmistrov hit will likely be looked at by the league for possible discipline, but Maurice didn't think it was bad. Bergeron thought it was a dirty hit but said Burmistrov, who doesn't have a previous rap sheet, apologized to him.

NOTES: Winnipeg LW Adam Lowry, who had an assist and two penalties, left the game after blocking a shot with his hand but returned. ... LW Matt Beleskey had an assist in his Bruins debut. ... The six goals allowed were the most given up by the Bruins in an opener since 2006. ... 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.

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