Pastrnak has 4 points, Bruins defeat Jets for 4th straight win

WINNIPEG — David Pastrnak had two goals and two assists, and the Boston Bruins extended their winning streak to four games with a 6-3 victory against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Thursday.

“He’s a pretty good hockey player but he also needs to be 100 percent, too, and he’s shown it today,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “I doubled him up when we lost (Viktor Arvidsson to an unspecified injury) and I doubled him up on our lines and he got better and better. He’s a special player and only those kinds of players can do it.”

Pastrnak has seven points (two goals, five assists) in two games after missing five games with an undisclosed injury.

“It's been a while since I was out but my head was a little bit different,” Pastrnak said. “I just play, try to play the right way. Obviously (I’ve) been out a while so it's never easy to come back, but when you're winning it's much easier to just join the group. And that's what my main focus was because they've been playing great hockey when guys were out, so for me it was just a matter of, pretty much, don't ruin it and just come in and help the way I can. And the last two games was with scoring, but if that doesn't keep going I have to find different ways to help the team.”

Hampus Lindholm had a goal, and Morgan Geekie had three assists for the Bruins (19-13-0). Joonas Korpisalo made 26 saves.

“You can see we play with confidence today,” Korpisalo said. “The more games we play now, the system is in our instincts right now, and you can see that. We don't need to think that much. And we know what we expect from everyone else, and it's fun.”

Charlie McAvoy had an assist, four shots on goal and was plus-4 in 24:16 of ice time in his return for Boston. He had missed the previous 11 games after he was hit in the face with a puck in a game against the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 15, an incident that required facial surgery.

“With every shift I felt more comfortable, and obviously it's tough to see guys go down with the injury, but at the same time we have to have their back and today was my turn to add more ice time,” Pastrnak said. “And obviously I enjoyed it. It helped me and felt great. It's a great way to start both games on the on the road and we have one more to go.”

Morgan Barron, Alex Iafallo, and Gabriel Vilardi each scored for the Jets (14-15-1), who have lost three straight and five of six (1-4-1). Eric Comrie made 18 saves.

“It's kind of crunch time here, right?” Barron said. “Like, (it’s) almost Christmas, and I think we're either at .500 or right below it now. So I think there's been times where we've kind of started to feel like our game is going in the right direction, but it hasn't been consistent enough. And obviously it's a results-based League, so you’ve got to find a way to kind of start winning these games.”

Barron made it 1-0 Jets with his first goal in 20 games at 5:59 of the first period. Josh Morrissey’s point shot created a scramble in front, and Barron was able track and jam in his own rebound.

“Tonight, special teams are a big part of it,” Barron said. “I think especially on the PK, we’ve got to be better. And then you give up a few grade-As. I think you can look at the shot clock and whatever, all that stuff, but we're giving up good chances and didn't really give ourselves a good chance to kind of help [Comrie] out tonight.”

Boston then scored three goals in a span of 2:44.

Pastrnak tied it 1-1 on the power play at 8:24, beating a screened Comrie with a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle.

Casey Mittelstadt put the Bruins up 2-1 with a power-play goal at 10:28. Mason Lohrei sent a cross-slot pass to Mittelstadt, who buried the puck into an open net from the right circle.

“Two goals on the penalty kill, not good enough,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “When you get a lead, that’s not what you want, to give them an opportunity like that.”

Sean Kuraly pushed it to 3-1 at 11:08. Tanner Jeannot entered the offensive zone and chopped it into the slot where Kuraly gloved the puck down and lifted a backhand over the outstretched glove of Comrie.

“It’s been all year, (our power play has) been great,” Sturm said. “I would say, the first half of the game, we took too many penalties. They took advantage. But when they were up 1-0 and we bounced back on the power play, and again, that was a big boost for our team.”

Iafallo cut the deficit to 3-2 at 13:37 on a net drive, lifting it short side over Korpisalo’s glove from in close.

“It seems like that whole game went in spurts,” Arniel said. “We got off to a good start, got behind the 8-ball real quick, and then we got some real big momentum there at the end of the first. We got back into the game to make it 3-2, then I thought there were stretches of the second where all of a sudden there would be two or three shifts in a row and then we’d go down in our end and give up a couple of glorious opportunities against.”

Lindholm extended the lead to 4-2 at 14:36 of the second period with a slap shot from above the left circle.

“It was just the inconsistency of building off of good parts of the game,” Arniel said. “There were stretches there where we would go two or three minutes where we gave up grade-A opportunities. We’ve just got to keep hammering it home here.”

Vilardi then cut it to 4-3 on the power play at 17:46, banging in a rebound after Cole Perfetti’s shot bounced across the crease.

“I mean, we’re finding ways to lose games, as opposed to last year’s team,” Vilardi said. “All these tight games, we were coming out with wins. But this year we are kind of battling back in games. I think that’s a big factor, battling back in all these games. It’s tough to come back from two goals down, three goals down every night.”

Elias Lindholm scored to make it 5-3 at 14:43 of the third period, and Pastrnak had an empty-net goal at 18:04 for the 6-3 final.

“The last period was by far our best period, and I don't think they (Winnipeg) had anything there,” Korpisalo said. “And just how unflappable we are there. It’s a one-goal game, but we just keep going and score the fifth goal and seal the deal there. It's fun to watch.”

Boston defenseman Jonathan Aspirot left the game late in the first period with an upper-body injury, and forward Viktor Arvidsson left early in the third. Sturm had no update postgame for either player.

NOTES: Pastrnak passed Rick Middleton (402) for sole possession of fifth place on the Bruins' all-time goals list. … Elias Lindholm has seven points (one goal, six assists) in a four-game point streak. … The Bruins are now 15-0-0 this season when leading after two periods. … Winnipeg forward Kyle Connor has a seven-game point streak (10 points; four goals, six assists). … Vilardi skated in his 300th NHL game. He also extended his point streak to five games (three goals, three assists).