Winners of four straight and seven of nine since Joe Sacco took over as interim head coach, the Boston Bruins have plenty of momentum as they hit the road for their longest, furthest road trip of the season to date.
Boston’s five-game swing begins with an immediate test on Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets, the Western Conference co-leaders and the NHL’s lone 20-win team.
“It’s going to be our first real long one, Western one,” Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy said of the trip. “We’ll get out there and we’ll enjoy each other’s company on the road. … Sometimes these trips are a good opportunity for us to have some experiences (together).”
The Bruins have gone on a run since beating the Montreal Canadiens in their Dec. 1 Centennial Game at TD Garden, but hitting the road presents a new challenge after winning three of their last four on home ice.
“I think it tells a lot about your team when you get on the road, about the identity of the group and how you respond in different environments,” Sacco said. “We’re going to face, obviously, one of the better teams in the league in our next game. … I think it’s important that we remain true to our identity, and that’s what has given us success lately.”
Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, though, saw Boston come from two goals down in the third period, with David Pastrnak setting up Pavel Zacha for an overtime game-winning goal for the second time in three games.
Prior to Monday’s departure from Boston, Pastrnak was held out of practice due to an upper-body injury. It figures to be minor as the team remains hopeful he can play on Tuesday and is not carrying any extra players.
Recent results have led to growing confidence in the locker room.
“I think we’re believing that we can win those (close) games, even if you don’t have great starts,” Zacha said. “That’s … something that we’re going to build on as a part of Bruins hockey: being the hard team to play against and winning these games.”
The Jets, who are just 3-6-0 since starting 17-3-0, had a two-game win streak snapped with their 4-1 Sunday loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Kyle Connor scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season to put Winnipeg on the board first in the second period before the visitors used Kent Johnson’s two goals in a 2:27 span in the third to break a 1-1 tie.
“We’re tied going into the third kind of like we’ve been the last few games, when (we) found ways to win hockey games,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “This one, we made mistakes and it ended up in the back of our net.”
Connor, who has scored twice in three games following a six-game scoreless stretch, leads a deep lineup that includes four double-digit goal scorers.
Gabriel Vilardi (11 goals) and Nino Niederreiter (10) joined Connor and Mark Scheifele (14) at that plateau in the Jets’ two most recent victories. Both of those games — a 3-2 overtime win Thursday at Buffalo and a 4-2 Saturday decision in Chicago — were also tied entering the third.
“Obviously, it’s great to contribute and get some goals, but in the end, nothing is more fun than winning hockey games,” Niederreiter said in Chicago.
Tuesday marks the second of a four-game homestand for Winnipeg, which finished a stretch of three games in four days against Columbus.
“We’ve talked about it as a group, we’re not looking for excuses based on the schedule,” Arniel said. “This is hockey.”