The Boston Bruins remain almost unbeatable at home. They were hot on Friday, however, as they rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Thursday night.
Boston is undefeated in regulation in 20 home games this season. The Bruins’ record is 18-0-2 since the season opener. They became the tenth team in NHL history not to be defeated in front of their fans in their first 20 games and only the second in the past decade. The Anaheim Ducks went 22 straight home games undefeated during the 2013-14 season.
The Bruins lead the NHL with a 26-4-2 record.
Mark Scheifele and Jansen Harkins managed to put the Jets ahead by two goals to force the Bruins to play catch-up hockey.
With his 20th goal of the season, Scheifele recorded his eighth 20-goal season, tying Ilya Kovalchuk’s mark in Jets/Thrashers history.
Josh Morrissey extended his streak to at least one point at eleven with an assist on Harkins’ goal. He is also the fifth defenseman in the last ten seasons to have such a streak.
David Pastrnak brought the Bruins one goal closer with his 22nd of the season at 12:08 of the second period. It was 2-1 Winnipeg. At 3:00 p.m., Jake DeBrusk evened the odds for a 200th career point.
Nick Foligno scored the game-winning goal at 11:08 of the third period as the Bruins overcame their fifth two-goal deficit of the season for the win or a tie after 60 minutes.
Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck faced 39 shots while Jeremy Swayman faced 27 shots past the Bruins net.
Slavin decides in overtime
Jaccob Slavin rounded Tristan Jarry after a fine pass from Seth Jarvis in overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Hurricanes came from behind in the 3rd period with Jordan Staal’s tying goal to force the extra period with less than five minutes left in regulation time.
The first period was marked by a 32-second streak where three goals were scored. Sidney Crosby first opened the scoring by grabbing his own comeback on the power play to score his 19th goal of the season.
Martin Necas offered the reply 15 seconds later before Jalen Chatfield found the back of the net with the first goal of his NHL career on a pass from Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
Shorthanded Brock McGinn and Bryan Rust were the other scorers for the Penguins.
It was Antti Raanta who got the start. He made 24 saves to earn the win, as Pyotr Kochetkov earned a night off after winning his last five starts.
Pettersson blasts in Canucks win
VANCOUVER — Elias Pettersson scored the game-winning shootout goal after scoring twice in regulation Thursday as the Vancouver Canuks won 6-5 at the expense of the Seattle Kraken.
Jordan Eberle tied the odds at one goal each side in the third round of the shootout, but Pettersson had the last laugh.
The 24-year-old Swede had created the deadlock at 6:40 in the third period; he had also scored in the middle period.
Pettersson also had three assists. Daniel Sprong scored twice for the Kraken, scoring his ninth and 10th goals of the season.
Jared McCann, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Alex Wennberg were the other Kraken scorers, while Martin Jones made 32 saves.
Lane Pederson, Brock Boeser and Andrei Kuzmenko collected the other Canucks goals. Spencer Martin stopped 31 shots.
The Kraken will play again on December 28 at home against Calgary.
The Canucks will be the visitors to Edmonton on Friday. They end a streak of two losses.
Erik Karlsson is unstoppable
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Erik Karlsson had a goal and three assists on Thursday to help the San Jose Sharks win 5-2 against the Minnesota Wild.
The Sharks had lost their last three games, while the Wild were unbeaten for six games.
Karlsson scored a 13th goal this season in the first minute of the game.
He then took part in the nets of Noah Gregor, Timo Meier and Oskar Lindblom. Kevin Labanc put the finishing touches in an empty net.
Meier gave the Sharks a 3-1 cushion midway through the third period on the power play. He leads the club with 18 goals this season.
James Reimer made 24 saves, being foiled by Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello. Ek was threading the needle for the second time in two nights.
Kempe plays heroes in overtime
LOS ANGELES – Adrian Kempe scored at 3:23 in overtime on Thursday as the Los Angeles Kings snatched a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames.
He and Viktor Arvidsson found themselves two to one against Rasmus Andersson.
Their quick passes concluded with Kempe getting his 13th goal of the season. Phillip Danault scored a ninth goal for the Kings, who deserved their fourth straight win.
The other winners’ goals came from Blake Lizotte and Gabriel Vilardi. Pheonix Copley made 27 saves. He faltered past Jonathan Huberdeau, Tyler Toffoli and Dillon Dube, who tied the game midway through the third period.
The Kings will face the Coyotes Friday night in Arizona. The Flames were looking for a third straight win. Their next game is Friday night as well, in Anaheim.
