Bruins 2, Jets 1: Birthday boy Charlie McAvoy scores shootout winner

Thursday
Dec 21, 2017 at 9:56 PM

MIKE LOFTUSThe Quincy Patriot Ledger

BOSTON -- Now that’s some way to celebrate a birthday.

Charlie McAvoy, the Bruins’ dazzling rookie defenseman, scored in the fourth round of a shootout on Thursday night to give the B’s a 2-1 decision over the Jets on his 20th birthday.

David Pastrnak was the Bruins’ other shootout scorer. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, who had 37 saves by the end of regulation, yielded one goal in the shootout, and caught a break when Nikolaj Ehlers’ shot hit the post.

Rask improved to 7-0-1 in his last eight starts. The B’s won their third straight game, and now have points in seven of their last eight (6-1-1).

Torey Krug’s sixth goal of the season finally broke a scoreless tie with 11:44 left in the third period. A rush by the line of Tim Schaller, Noel Acciari and Jake DeBrusk had broken down, but the Jets attempt to clear the puck went right to Krug at the left point. His wrist shot through Acciari’s screen went over the left arm of Connor Hellebuyck.

The Jets answered almost immediately. After puck-carrier Sean Kuraly fell down trying to to reverse direction behind the Bruins net, Bryan Little nudged the puck to Ehlers, who fed wide-open Patrik Laine on the weak side for an easy goal just 57 seconds after Krug scored.

It was a busy finish to an eventful day.

Already without center David Krejci (upper body, out until after Christmas), the Bruins arrived at TD Garden on Thursday morning to find Brad Marchand, Riley Nash and Ryan Spooner sick. All three were sent home; only Marchand returned.

With three centers (Krejci, Nash, Spooner) out, the Bruins recalled Colby Cave from AHL Providence on an emergency basis and gave him his first NHL game, starting him out between fellow rookies DeBrusk and Anders Bjork -- where Krejci and Spooner had played most recently. Kuraly moved up from the fourth line to skate in Nash’s place between Danton Heinen and David Backes, and fourth-line winger Acciari moved to center between Schaller and Frank Vatrano, who had been a healthy scratch for five straight straight games and eight of the last nine. The only line left intact was Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak.

The Jets, coming off back-to-back wins over the Blues and Predators, did surprisingly little to press the B’s. They landed only eight shots on Tuukka Rask (one went off a post) despite being awarded a pair of power plays, while the Bruins ended up with 10 on Hellebuyck. The B’s did have a power play, but with Spooner missing from the first unit and Krejci absent from the second, threats were few.

The Jets came out for the second period with much better pace (six shots in the first 5:37) and Rask -- 6-0-1 in his previous seven stats -- had to make several strong saves to keep the game tied. He did the same with about five minutes left, when he came well out of his creast to stop Tyler Myers’ uncontested shot from just about the right circle, then flashed out his left skate to deny Mathieu Perreault on the rebound.

Thursday
Dec 21, 2017 at 9:56 PM

MIKE LOFTUSThe Quincy Patriot Ledger

BOSTON -- Now that’s some way to celebrate a birthday.

Charlie McAvoy, the Bruins’ dazzling rookie defenseman, scored in the fourth round of a shootout on Thursday night to give the B’s a 2-1 decision over the Jets on his 20th birthday.

David Pastrnak was the Bruins’ other shootout scorer. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, who had 37 saves by the end of regulation, yielded one goal in the shootout, and caught a break when Nikolaj Ehlers’ shot hit the post.

Rask improved to 7-0-1 in his last eight starts. The B’s won their third straight game, and now have points in seven of their last eight (6-1-1).

Torey Krug’s sixth goal of the season finally broke a scoreless tie with 11:44 left in the third period. A rush by the line of Tim Schaller, Noel Acciari and Jake DeBrusk had broken down, but the Jets attempt to clear the puck went right to Krug at the left point. His wrist shot through Acciari’s screen went over the left arm of Connor Hellebuyck.

The Jets answered almost immediately. After puck-carrier Sean Kuraly fell down trying to to reverse direction behind the Bruins net, Bryan Little nudged the puck to Ehlers, who fed wide-open Patrik Laine on the weak side for an easy goal just 57 seconds after Krug scored.

It was a busy finish to an eventful day.

Already without center David Krejci (upper body, out until after Christmas), the Bruins arrived at TD Garden on Thursday morning to find Brad Marchand, Riley Nash and Ryan Spooner sick. All three were sent home; only Marchand returned.

With three centers (Krejci, Nash, Spooner) out, the Bruins recalled Colby Cave from AHL Providence on an emergency basis and gave him his first NHL game, starting him out between fellow rookies DeBrusk and Anders Bjork -- where Krejci and Spooner had played most recently. Kuraly moved up from the fourth line to skate in Nash’s place between Danton Heinen and David Backes, and fourth-line winger Acciari moved to center between Schaller and Frank Vatrano, who had been a healthy scratch for five straight straight games and eight of the last nine. The only line left intact was Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak.

The Jets, coming off back-to-back wins over the Blues and Predators, did surprisingly little to press the B’s. They landed only eight shots on Tuukka Rask (one went off a post) despite being awarded a pair of power plays, while the Bruins ended up with 10 on Hellebuyck. The B’s did have a power play, but with Spooner missing from the first unit and Krejci absent from the second, threats were few.

The Jets came out for the second period with much better pace (six shots in the first 5:37) and Rask -- 6-0-1 in his previous seven stats -- had to make several strong saves to keep the game tied. He did the same with about five minutes left, when he came well out of his creast to stop Tyler Myers’ uncontested shot from just about the right circle, then flashed out his left skate to deny Mathieu Perreault on the rebound.

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