Jets Open Season With A Win

They had 11 shot attempts with eight landing on net.

The early stages of the 2015-16 season have always been expected to be a learning process, a time to work out the kinks, for these remodeled Bruins.

The line of Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Loui Eriksson played well and did a good job of creating chances and leading the breakout from the defensive zone.

April 8, 2015; Washington, DC, US; Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug (47) skates with the puck as Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) defends in the third period at Verizon Center. Game ends, Bruins start their season 0-1-0. Oshie took a run at McQuaid and smashed him into the boards behind the B’s net. He showed last night that he might not be an NHL-caliber defenseman, when he was tasked with handling the puck behind the net and failed miserably.

If there’s one thing we know about new Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney only a few short months into his tenure at the top of the personnel totem pole, it’s that he’s unafraid to make the bold, and oftentimes unpopular, decision. The B’s have controlled action in the first period, with Marchand and Eriksson breaking on a 2-on-1 that was stopped by Pavelec.

In the final minute of the first period, Burmistrov elbowed Bergeron to the head. The Bruins alternate captain took exception to that dirty hit, and sought after him immediately after the elbow, which led to a scuffle and multiple penalties. He notched the game-winner finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing play in front and finished with two points along with a plus-2 rating in 20:09 of ice time.

The Jets had effectively weathered the Bruins’ first period storm and were pushing back.

HONORABLE MENTION: David Krejci was very good in his first game healthy in nearly two years and scored the opening goal while showing that he’s back to his old normal self.

In an off-season filled with trades, free agency signings and managerial changes around the league, the Boston Bruins have sure had their fair share in each of those categories. With a Jet cutting in front of Rask, Scheifele fired a hard wrist shot over the goalie’s blocker.

Another awful giveaway led to another Winnipeg goal, giving them a 2-1 lead and silencing the crowd at the TD Garden.

But who turned the puck over to get Winnipeg’s rush started?

Scratch what I said about the defensemen looking solid in this game.

Mattias Janmark’s snapshot after less than two minutes put them ahead before powerplay goals from Ales Hemsky in the second period and Jamie Benn in the third sealed the win. With the Ducks last season, the seven-year veteran winger had 22 goals and 10 assists in 65 games. Chiarot took the puck from just outside the trapezoid behind the net and fed it to the front of the net to Lowry.

With so many fresh faces in the lineup and a new desire to push the pace of the play, Bruins hockey promised to look a lot different this year.

Ondrej Pavelec made 29 saves for the Jets. Kevan Miller picked up the second assist on the goal.

And then there was the Drew Stafford goal to put the Jets up 3-1. The Defense and Forwards began playing VERY wide and loose, and thus, the dagger occured. “I think we might have got a little excited here about our offense and then forgot about the other part of our game”.

But that’s just it. It was one game down with 81 others left on the schedule. “Maybe frustration from not scoring on our opportunities we had led to the need to feel like you need to cheat to try and get another opportunity”. Winnipeg scored goals tonight even when they weren’t trying to.