B's Return Home With Their Moms & Beat the Jets 5-4 Thanks to Pasta's 3rd Hat Trick of the Season

NHL teams figured out years ago that one of the keys to break up the grind of the regular season was to plan fun things like a moms trip and a dads trip at different times in the calendar. It's a simple but also brilliant concept for the players to bond with their family members who they probably don't get to see that much anymore yet all had a key role in them becoming professional athletes. Boston (26-8-11) had their mothers (and Charlie Coyle's sister) with them in Nashville (20-16-7) for Tuesday's rousing 6-2 victory and they were back with their boys at TD Garden tonight for a thrilling 5-4 win vs. Winnipeg (24-17-4). David Pastrnak notched his seventh career hat trick and third in 45 games this season, boosting his NHL-leading goal total to 35 which is insane.

In many ways, this was a schedule loss for the Jets since they had beaten the Maple Leafs (24-15-6) 4-3 in a shootout last night in Toronto then dragged their weary bones here for their third game in four nights. They also were starting backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit (4-5-0, 31 saves) who is a borderline NHLer at best. They don't have a ton of depth-hence why they are clinging to the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference with Calgary (23-17-5) and Vancouver (23-17-4) breathing down their necks-but Winnipeg does possess some high-end talent. Their top forward line of Kyle Connor (goal, assist), Mark Scheifele (goal, assist) and Patrik Laine (assist) is one of the best in the league.

Zdeno Chara was a last minute scratch from the lineup as he nurses an infection with his surgically-repaired robojaw. Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy noted that the captain is in serious pain (but still had to be talked into sitting out by Cassidy & GM Don Sweeney) and he has a follow-up appointment with a doctor tomorrow but they hope to have him on the upcoming road trip. The Jets scored first as Connor roofed a backhander past Jaroslav Halak (17 saves, 10-4-5) at 7:35 of the first period. Nikolaj Ehlers and Scheifele had the assists on Connor's team-leading 22nd goal of the season. Chris Wagner (game-high 7 shots on goal) had a breakaway but he was stopped by Brossoit before crashing painfully into the post. He was pulled by the concussion spotter but returned to Boston's bench to start the second period. Pastrnak tied it at 17:14 with a one-timer from Joakim Nordstrom. Sean Kuraly had the other assist as Pasta got some minutes with the fourth liners when Wagner was out. David has a 12-game point streak (9 goals, 10 assists) with 29 points (15 goals, 14 assists) in his last 22 games.

Tied at one going into the second period, things really opened up with both clubs scoring a pair of goals. Andrew Copp tipped in a shot by Josh Morrissey for his 7th goal of the season (100th NHL point) at 6:00. Ehlers had the secondary assist, giving him eight points (3 goals, 5 assists) in his last six games. You run out of ways to describe all the absurd goals scored by Pastrnak and his second one was a doozy as he destroyed a one-timer from Torey Krug and Brad Marchand for a power-play goal to tie it at two at 9:41. Jake DeBrusk got a step on everyone and delivered by picking the top corner with a forehand shot on a breakaway for his 12th goal of the season and a 3-2 Bruins advantage at 18:49. Boston's first lead was short-lived though as good old Neal Pionk (who?) scored a power play goal of his own at 19:52. His fourth goal of the season was assisted by ex-Bruin Blake Wheeler (17 points in 21 career games vs. Boston) and Laine (100th career NHL assist). It was 3-3 after two periods but it felt like Boston should be ahead since they had outshot the Jets 24-14.

You would expect tired legs to finally catch up with Winnipeg in the third period but at least initially, they did not as Scheifele banked a shot from behind the goal-line off Halak and in at 7:50 for a 4-3 lead. Scheifele's 22nd goal of the season was assisted by Connor and Dmitry Kulikov. Pasta tied it (because of course he did) after a nifty backhand feed from David Krejci. DeBrusk had the second helper on the memorable goal at 11:13 that sent all the Bruins hats raining down on the Garden ice. After the extended break to clear the hats, the fans didn't have to sit down for long as DeBrusk re-directed a shot by Charlie McAvoy 33 seconds later. Matt Grzelcyk had the other assist on the game-winning tally that gave DeBrusk nine points (6 goals, 3 assists) in his last 10 games.

It sounds silly with a seven-point lead over Tampa Bay (26-13-4) in the Atlantic Division but this was a very important two points for the B's since the Lightning blanked the Coyotes (25-17-4) 4-0 this evening and they are the hottest team in the NHL with nine straight wins (and 2 games in hand). Toronto (24-15-6) is also playing great since they fired head coach Mike Babcock: they are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and nine points behind Boston. With the regular season more than halfway through, the Black and Gold should get used to life on the road as they only have 15 contests left at the Garden.

They head out tomorrow for a three-game trip against Metropolitan Division opponents starting with a visit to the Barclays Center on Saturday night (7, NESN) to face the Islanders (27-12-3). They are off on Sunday (when they should have been watching the Pats visit the Chiefs, sigh) but get a tricky back-to-back on Monday (7, NESN) at Philadelphia (23-15-6) followed by Columbus (21-15-8) the next night (7, NESN) to wrap things up. Boston's next home game is a week from tonight (7, NESN) against Pittsburgh (26-12-5) who has played well lately (7-2-1 in their last 10 games) even with superstar Sidney Crosby out for an extended period of time with a core muscle injury.

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The Bruins Return from Their Long Break, Go Toe-to-Toe With The Jets But Lose 4-3 In a Shootout

The Bruins (27-17-6) hadn't played a game in over a week and David Pastrnak was the only member of the team that went to the All-Star Game in San Jose last weekend so the team was understandably energized in their first game back tonight at TD Garden. Winnipeg (32-16-2)-the No. 2 team in the Western Conference-had lost 3-1 in Philadelphia (21-23-6) on Monday but they bounced back with a 4-3 shootout win against the B's. It hasn't been long or deep enough to be termed a tailspin but Boston is in a slight funk (1-2-2 in their last 5 games).

20-year-old Trent Frederic, Boston's first-round pick from 2016 (29th overall), made his NHL debut and it was a memorable one as he destroyed Brandon Tanev in a second period fight thus endearing himself to Bruins fans even if he never does a thing for the rest of his career (slight exaggeration but not really). Boston's first line was still dominant and they scored all three goals but it wasn't enough as the Jets rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits before surviving a third-period tying goal and overtime to come out with the two points. UMass-Lowell's Connor Hellebuyck (36 saves, 22-14-1) showed why he's thought of as one of the best goaltenders in the NHL while young left wing Kyle Connor scored two goals for Winnipeg plus he bagged the only goal in the shootout.

Tuukka Rask is on IR (concussion) but it sounds like he could return later this week. They need him too since Jaroslav Halak (24 saves, 13-8-3) lost for the fourth straight game that he's appeared in (including the relief outing for Rask after he got hurt vs. Rangers). It didn't take long for Patrice Bergeron (2 goals) to make his presence felt as he one-timed a pass from Brad Marchand (3 assists; 5-game point streak) and David Pastrnak for a 1-0 Bruins lead at 9:49 of the first period. Hellebuyck had stopped a similar shot initially but he had no chance on Bergeron's 15th goal of the season. The teams traded power play goals later in the frame as Josh Morrissey blasted a shot through traffic at 13:53 to make it 1-1. The criminally underrated Mark Scheifele had the lone assist on Morrissey's sixth goal of the season. The B's went into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead though thanks to Pastrnak's one-timer from Marchand and Torey Krug. Pasta's team-leading 28th goal of the season wasn't that different than the snipes that helped him win the shooting accuracy contest at the All-Star Game.

It took a little while for Winnipeg to find their legs (they were outshot 20-8 in the first period) but they woke up in the second period thanks to a pair of bouts: Kevan Miller vs. Adam Lowry and Frederic vs. Tanev. The Jets outshot the Bruins 9-5 in the second and that shift in momentum carried over to the third thanks to Connor. He scored a pair of goals 34 seconds apart, a swift kick to the groin of the Black and Gold who had three chances to pick him in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft but they passed each time, ugh. First he split the Bruins defense and finished a breakaway with a snap shot past Halak at 4:27. His 20th goal of the season was assisted by former Sabre Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot. Next, he found himself alone and front where he was able to roof a shot in from Scheifele and old friend Blake Wheeler (who is 2nd in the NHL with 53 assists!).

Bergeron saved the day as usual with another goal, this time at 11:39 which tied it at three. Marchand and Pastrnak had the assists on his one-timer that he didn't get much wood on but it still somehow went in. Boston had been 4-5 in overtime while Winnipeg was 6-1 but neither team generated too many great chances. In the shootout for Boston, Jake DeBrusk (picked ahead of Connor), Pastrnak (Hellebuyck made a beautiful stop with the toe of his skate) and Marchand were all unable to find the back of the net. Connor went first for the Jets, scored and that's all that they needed.

The B's get a chance at revenge on Thursday (7, NESN) as they host the Flyers (21-23-6) who beat them 4-3 on Jan. 16 in the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia is still way behind Pittsburgh (26-17-6)-10 points to be exact-for the second Wild Card spot but they have won five games in a row after Tuesday's 1-0 victory at Madison Square Garden vs. Rangers (21-21-7). Hopefully, Rask is cleared to play and picks up where he left off. Halak isn't getting the job done right now and as we've seen for years, the team has less than zero confidence in Zane McIntyre (who was just called up from Providence on an emergency basis) to do anything at the NHL level.

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