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The Boston Bruins are coming home with four of a possible six points in their pockets.
Behind a straight-up masterful performance from goaltender
Tuukka Rask, who stopped 34-of-35 shots and also became the first goaltender in Bruins’ history to record two assists in one game, the Bruins downed the Winnipeg Jets behind a 4-1 final at MTS Centre on Monday night.
With young gun Connor Hellebuyck in net, it was the Jets struck first behind
Blake Wheeler’s third goal of the season, though, scored 10 minutes into the first period and assisted by Alex Burmistrov, and good for the ex-Bruin’s sixth goal and 12th point in 15 games against the B’s.
But the Bruins responded just 19 seconds later, this time from
Dominic Moore, his first of the year and assisted by
Tim Schaller (in his Bruins debut) and
Noel Acciari.
In a 1-1 deadlock, the Bruins survived three penalties against -- all against their defensemen, too -- before
David Pastrnak broke the tie 19:02 into the second period, with a fortunate bounce off Winnipeg defenseman
Tobi Enstrom and into the Winnipeg cage.
And in what might go down as the closest three-goal win ever, the Bruins jumped ahead with
Brandon Carlo’s go-ahead goal, the first of his NHL career, scored at 18:01 into the third period, before Zdeno Chara tallied the long-distance empty-net dagger at 19:10 of the third.
Random thoughts and notes
- Video review is basically the worst, you guys. Well, specifically video review of offsides calls.
Boston captain Zdeno Chara scored his first goal of the season long before the 39-year-old recorded the empty-net dagger. At a 1-1 draw, Chara beat Hellebuyck with a change-up shot from the point, but the goal was called back with a successful coach’s challenge from Jets coach Paul Maurice that deemed the Bruins to be offside by the smallest of margins… 15 seconds before the Bruins scored the goal. In essence, it had no bearing on the end result. While I understand the need for video review on offside calls, I find that they’re really important in situations in which the player offside factors into a goal that happens off that rush. If a skate-blade is a fingernail over the blue before the puck, but the goal doesn’t happen for another 15 seconds, does it really matter? Not a chance.
- Happy Pasta Day! No, but really, has there been a Bruins forward that’s impressed more than third-year pro David Pastrnak has through the first three games of the season? Credited with the game-winning goal in last night’s victory, the 20-year-old has scored a goal in all three of Boston’s game to date, and has totaled four goals and six points over that stretch. A clear fit on the first line with David Backes and Brad Marchand, what makes Pastrnak so dangerous is his ability to dish passes off just as easily as he can get shots on goal. And on a line with talent like Backes and Marchand, this has made the wily Czech winger all the more difficult to read if you’re the opposing defense.
- This road trip was a massive success for the B’s. Period. Without Patrice Bergeron, and with Rask out of action in their lone loss, the Bruins capitalized on their chances, and were able to execute their stylistic and systematic changes against the opposition with actual results. (Remember last year’s disastrous three-game start and how it basically blew their system changes up and out of the picture?) It’ll be interesting to see just how it develops at home, too, when they get the benefit of last change.
Up next
The Bruins are coming home for their home opener against Massachusetts native Cory Schneider and the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. The Bruins went 2-1-0 against the Devils in 2015-16.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can also be read in the New England Hockey Journal magazine. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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