Before the Western Conference leader Winnipeg faces the best team in the Eastern Conference on Saturday, the Bruins will give them a pitstop in Boston.
The teams with the two highest point totals in the NHL will face off on Saturday night when the Winnipeg Jets visit the Washington Capitals. The Western Conference-best Jets recorded their fifth straight win and eighth in their last 10 games with a 6-2 romp over the host Boston Bruins on Thursday.
The Boston Bruins suffered an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 28. With the Sabres at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, this was a winnable game for Boston, but they were blown out instead.
The B’s erased a two-goal deficit early in the third period, only to give up two goals to the Western Conference-Winnipeg Jets in 42 seconds and three in the first 5:56 of the third. The Jets then cruised to a 6-2 victory over the B’s.
The Jets (35-14-3) enter Thursday night’s matchup as the league’s top team with 73 points (tied with the Washington Capitals), six points clear of Edmonton and Vegas for the top spot in the Western Conference. They have won four straight, including a 4-1 win over Montreal on Tuesday night, which kicked off a three-game Eastern road trip.
The Bruins will get a boost on their blue line on Thursday night, as defenseman Charlie McAvoy will rejoin the lineup when Boston hosts the Winnipeg Jets at TD Garden.
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The Winnipeg Jets will look to continue their winning ways on Saturday when they take on the Washington Capitals. To kick off February, the Jets will be the top team in the NHL, taking on the #2 team, in Washington, on Hockey Night in Canada. That game should be all types of fun as we near the break.
The St. Louis Blues are in an interesting position in the standings. At this point in the campaign, they have a 23-24-4 record and are five points behind the Calgary Flames for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Boston was thumped in Buffalo on Tuesday, and the return of McAvoy – out since Jan. 11 with a wrist injury – will certainly help.