BOSTON — Chris Thorburn and Nicolas Petan scored in the third period after Boston came within one goal, and the Winnipeg Jets opened the season with a 6-2 victory over the Bruins on Thursday night.

It was the first victory for the former Atlanta Thrashers in Boston since 2007, before the franchise moved to Winnipeg. The Bruins had beaten the Thrashers and Jets 13 consecutive times in Boston.

Ondrej Pavelec made 29 saves for the Jets. Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Drew Stafford scored in the second period to give the Jets a 3-1 lead.

David Pastrnak stickhandled along the left side before wristing it past Pavelec to make it 3-2 early in the third. But less than four minutes later, Thorburn sneaked through the defense and put a bouncing puck past Rask to make it 4-2.

Petan deflected a puck off his skate and into the net midway through the final period to make it 5-2. Alexander Burmistrov added an empty-netter with 3:38 to play, backhanding it in from the far faceoff circle.

David Krejci also scored for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 26 saves.

The Jets are trying to build on last season’s playoff appearance – their first since moving to Winnipeg before the 2011-12 season. They were swept by Anaheim in the first round.

The Bruins are trying to bounce back after missing the playoffs last season for the first time since 2007 – the year before Claude Julien took over on the bench. General manager Peter Chiarelli was replaced by Don Sweeney and regulars like Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton were shipped out.

But with top defensemen Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg missing the games with injures, the Bruins struggled to keep the puck out of their net.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.