It's been over a month (Jan. 10 & 12) since the Boston Bruins last won two games in a row.
Their inconsistent stretch of play continued on Friday night as they lost for the second time this season in Winnipeg. Former Bruin Blake Wheeler had a goal and two assists as the Jets (28-26-6) kept their playoff push going with a 4-2 win at the MTS Centre.
The Bruins (35-19-2) couldn't use the momentum from their shootout win in Montreal on Wednesday as they crumbled in the NHL's smallest but likely loudest arena.
The season series ends 2-2 as both teams won twice on their home ice.
Tuukka Rask (21 saves; 11-8-2) showed why his starts have been diminishing lately as he dropped his fifth straight decision.
Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec (31 saves) shut the door as Boston tied it up twice but never led. Bryan Little put it away with the game-winner and an insurance tally in the third period.
Alex Burmistrov (12th of the season) opened the scoring for the Jets at 1:59 of the second. His wrist shot up high and glove side, caught Rask by surprise or at least that's how it looked. It was a shot I'm sure Rask would like to have back as it seemed to eat him up. Former Bruin Mark Stuart and Kyle Wellwood had the assists.
Mr. Invisible Jordan Caron (3rd of the season) finally did something as he sniped a goal at 6:10 from Chris Kelly. I had no idea he had that type of shot, maybe because he's never taken one outside of five feet from the net.
Wheeler (11th of the season), aka Mr. Offsides in his Bruin days, made it 2-1 at 15:50 when his wrist shot went through Rask's five-hole. Dustin Byfuglien and Evander Kane assisted on another one that Rask should stop if he wants to be considered a No. 1 goaltender.
David Krejci (12th of the season) picked up his first point in eight games when he tied it at two 49 seconds into the third. Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic had the assists as Krejci put it over Pavelec from in tight. Maybe that will get him going, he's done nothing since Nathan Horton went out of the lineup.
Little's first goal (15th of the season) was the fault of Boston's defense as they all watched as he went for the rebound, untouched, and flipped it by Rask. Wheeler and Andrew Ladd assisted on that at 4:16.
Just 2:04 later, Little sealed it off a nice feed from Wheeler. Tobias Enstrom had the other assist.
Patrice Bergeron had a great chance to cut it to a one-goal game after that but he shot it right in Pavelec's glove.
The B's face the Minnesota Wild for the only time this season on Sunday afternoon (3:30 on NBC) in the Twin Cities. Boston needs to sure up many things: their leaky defense, their goaltending and they need to put the puck in the net more often. Other than that, things are going swell.
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