Oct 11, 2023; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele (55) celebrates his goal with teammates against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Friday night’s game between the Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets marks the first of a road back-to-back games before Christmas between the only two NHL teams with undefeated interconference records.
Boston, which leads the Atlantic Division, has lost four straight overtime games, 1-0-3, including a 4-3 setback at home against Minnesota on Tuesday. This season, the Bruins have a 9-0-2 record versus teams in the Western Conference.
With a 5-2 victory over Detroit on Wednesday, Winnipeg moved up to the top of the Central and increased their record versus the East to 8-0-3.
Leading scorer for Boston, winger David Pastrnak, understands the Bruins have what it takes to overcome giving up third-period leads in their previous two games. Pastrnak scored his 18th and 19th goals of the season in the first period on Tuesday.
Pastrnak declared, “We win together, we lose together.” “It’s evident that our crew is younger than it was a few years ago, but everyone is committed to learning. Each of us can offer something to the other. We’re uniting and attempting to improve one another.”
Boston’s goal difference is an Eastern Conference-best plus-20 despite the team’s lower goal total than it was a season ago because to the goaltender tandem of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.
Jim Montgomery, the coach of Boston, is more worried about the team’s overall defensive performance in spite of this. In nine of their previous 11 games and six of their previous seven, the Bruins have let up 30 shots or more.
According to Montgomery, “We expected (scoring) to be down.” “We are a little more worried about how tough and uncompromising our defense is. To ensure that we’re not passing up as many good opportunities as we are, the coaching staff and I must improve.”
Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was forced to miss the majority of Tuesday’s first period and Thursday’s practice due to an apparent shoulder ailment, but Montgomery did not rule him out of playing on the trip, which continues on Saturday in Minnesota.
“It’s one of those things where it literally could be 24 hours and he’s feeling like he could play, so he’s day-to-day,” Montgomery explained.
The Jets are on a lengthy 15-5-1 run that includes individual victory streaks of three, four, and five games. They have scored points in eight of their last nine games (7-1-1).
Winnipeg has now won 21 games in a row while allowing no more than three goals. This victory came on Wednesday.
That is our strategy. The Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers stated, “We know we’re good enough to get our chances offensively, and we play well defensively. “If we play the appropriate defensive strategy, we won’t need to cheat to achieve that. We did a great job at it.
After missing four games due to a knee injury, Gabriel Vilardi made a comeback on Nov. 30 and scored two goals and added an assist against Detroit. Of all the Jets rookies, he has the longest goal streak.
