Winnipeg @ Boston preview
TD Garden
Last Meeting ( Dec 22, 2023 ) Boston 1, Winnipeg 5
Fresh off their first nine-goal performance since 2012, the Boston Bruins will look to extend their unbeaten streak to nine when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night.
The game features the leaders in the Atlantic and Central divisions, respectively. Boston leads the entire Eastern Conference, while Winnipeg -- which is second in the Western Conference -- has two more overall wins than Boston and a game in hand.
Danton Heinen's first career hat trick and 16 total players with points helped the Bruins trounce Montreal 9-4 on Saturday for their fourth straight victory. They are 5-0-3 since a Jan. 4 loss to Pittsburgh.
"I think it talks about the evolution of our team actually growing offensively," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "I don't think we ever envisioned having a night like this, and over the course of 82 games, there's some outliers, but I thought that we've been seeing this coming here for four games, right? We're hanging on to pucks and we end up with high-grade chances -- and there were numerous tonight."
The offense also came from plenty of usual suspects, including Brad Marchand, who reached the 20-goal mark for a franchise-record 11th straight season and 13th in his career.
Among others, David Pastrnak scored his 30th goal, while Jake DeBrusk continued his recent torrid streak with seven goals and 13 points in 13 games.
"We knew that was how we were going to win this year," Marchand said. "Obviously, (Pastrnak is) an exception, he produces every night, but we win by committee here, and that's how you need to win in the playoffs."
The Bruins also played with their healthiest lineup in recent weeks on Saturday as defensemen Brandon Carlo (concussion) and Derek Forbort (lower-body injury), forward Matt Poitras (shoulder) and goaltender Linus Ullmark (lower-body) all returned.
Carlo opened the floodgates with Boston's first goal on Saturday.
Winnipeg is unbeaten in regulation since Dec. 12 in San Jose, having gone 14-1-2 in that 17-game span and 10-1-0 over its last 11.
The Jets have allowed two or fewer goals in each of their last 14 games, and three or fewer in a whopping 34 straight.
All of those impressive runs continued with a 2-1 overtime win in Ottawa on Saturday in which Nikolaj Ehlers scored the deciding goal with 46 seconds left in the extra session.
"Unfortunately, we see that in practice against us as defensemen all the time," teammate Brenden Dillon said of Ehlers. "He's a special player, makes special plays like that. Turning nothing, really, a simple one-on-one into an unbelievable, highlight-reel game winner."
Ehlers is up to 16 goals and 34 points this season, ranking second on the team to Kyle Connor (18 goals) and Mark Scheifele (41 points) in those categories, respectively.
Mason Appleton scored for the second straight game, and Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves to backstop the Jets.
Hellebuyck has allowed two goals or fewer in 10 straight games for the second time this season.
"I thought we played better in the third. I thought we got our legs going again," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said after Saturday's game. "Listen, give (Ottawa) credit, but give us credit for finding a way to win the game, even though I would say we weren't at our best."
--Field Level Media