WINNIPEG — Blame the ghosts of the Boston Garden, if you must, at least for opening the door.
Brenden Dillion wasn’t looking for anyone in particular to point the finger at, but it was obvious the Winnipeg Jets defenceman was in complete and utter disbelief at the bounce off the stanchion that opened the door for this Boston Bruins comeback.
But a harmless-looking dump-in from just inside the red line took a wild bounce right into the slot and with Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck hustling to try and knock the puck down and leave it for a D-man, the net was vacated.
Conveniently, the biscuit landed right on the tape of David Pastrnak and he wasn’t about to misfire on this shot at the yawning cage.
“I mean, unbelievable, really,” Dillon told reporters in Boston. “All six of us (on the ice), including Helly, are looking at each other, like, draw that play up 100 times and maybe it happens once. Yeah, obviously that sucks.
“We understood we have to keep playing; there was still half a hockey game left when that happens. Again, we took more penalties and unfortunately they were able to capitalize there.”
Jets head coach Rick Bowness did his best to shake off the unfortunate bounce, dropping “that’s hockey” when asked about the impact of the play in question.
Eventually, he got around to sharing his disbelief as well.
“You've got to overcome those things. There's not much you can do about it (chuckling). It's a harmless shoot-in that goes to their best goal scorer. Sometimes those things just happen and you just have to find a way to overcome them,” said Bowness, who then turned his attention to another area of concern. “We did a really good job in the first. The first goal, there's not much you can do about that. That's hockey. But it was the penalties, the three penalties in nine minutes, that took away all our momentum. And that hurt us, without a doubt. And then the faceoffs were a big factor as well.”
There’s no doubt the Jets have reason to be disappointed.
Prior to the crazy carom, they seemed to be mostly in control of the contest, building a 2-0 lead on goals from Mark Scheifele (his team-leading 20th) and Jansen Harkins (who got to the front of the net and had a point shot from Josh Morrissey go in off him).
The other factor for the Jets was that they had a pair of power plays of their own during the first period to extend the lead to 3-0, but were unable to convert.
Pastrnak got things going, then set up Jake DeBrusk for a power play marker that came on a perfect redirection, with Scheifele sitting in the box after a ticky-tack call for tripping Charlie McAvoy.
That offensive zone minor proved to be costly as it allowed the Bruins to score the equalizer, making it two goals in two minutes and 52 seconds for Boston to steal back the momentum.
Scheifele wisely chose to bite his tongue when asked about officiating, knowing full well that he’s been given a pair of misconducts this season for voicing his displeasure.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” said Scheifele. “We got a tough bounce on that first one. They’re a good team, they’re where they are for a reason. We had our chances, but we battled to the end.”
Bowness wasn’t about to risk a fine either, simply shrugging his shoulders when asked about the men in stripes.
“They call what they see,” said Bowness.
On the game-winner, the Jets got caught paying a bit too much attention to puck carrier Charlie Coyle, who lured three defenders to him, leaving Foligno open in the high slot for a clean shot.
“We knew how big this game was. We knew it was going to be a measuring stick between two really good teams. Obviously, we got the start we wanted. A little bit of penalty trouble there in the second and they got some momentum and then a breakdown on their game-winning goal.”
Just before the final buzzer, the Jets actually created a good look for Kyle Connor in the slot, but his shot just sailed wide and the Bruins hung on for another victory on home ice, winning this battle between teams that led their respective conference in points percentage heading into the tilt.
“That's the best team in the league right now, and we battled them right to the end. Our guys worked very, very hard. They battled hard. So that's all you can ask,” said Bowness. “You'd like to see a few more shots on net. A little more pressure. But the guys did work hard. But we were right there with them right to the end. And our best goal scorer had a Grade A. They scored on their best chance from the slot. We had the same opportunity, and we just missed the net.”
Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck was sensational in his return to the crease, finishing with 36 saves after missing Tuesday’s start due to an illness.
The Jets will face the Washington Capitals on Friday night in what will be the final game before the holiday break.
“We know (the Bruins) haven’t lost in this building in regulation, so we knew it was going to be a good test. We know (Friday) is going to be a tough game too,” said Dillon. “Washington came into our building here a couple of weeks ago and beat us. It’s our last one before Christmas and we want to earn our couple of days off.”
