Bruins Beat Jets 4-3 in OT as Peterka Scores the Winner

Now listen, sweetheart. Pour yourself something warm, because this one had more lead changes than a game of hot potato. The Bruins went into Winnipeg and found themselves tied at 3 with extra time on the clock, and that's exactly when JJ Peterka decided to introduce himself to the city of Boston. David Pastrnak fed him the puck in overtime at 3:21, and Peterka beat Stuart Skinner to win it, 4-3. That's the whole story, really — Boston kept finding ways back into this game, and then found one more.

It didn't start easy. Dylan DeMelo opened the scoring for Winnipeg just before the five-minute mark of the first period, a slap shot from the point that got past Jeremy Swayman. Hampus Lindholm answered for the Bruins not long after, 9:23 in, tying it at 1, and then James Hagens buried his first NHL goal off a scramble in front of the net to make it 2-1 Boston. I love a good net-front mess. It means somebody's working.

Winnipeg wasn't done, mind you. Kyle Connor tied it on the power play early in the second, and Mario Ferraro, scoring his first goal as a Jet, put Winnipeg up 3-2 late in that period with a shot from the blue line. The Bruins sat on that one-goal deficit a long while before Elias Lindholm tipped in a Pastrnak shot with the extra skater on at 18:22 of the third to tie it 3-3 and drag this thing into overtime. Nothing like a goalie-pulled finish to make an old woman spill her tea.

David Pastrnak had himself a quiet-on-the-scoresheet-but-busy night — two assists, on both the tying goal and the winner — and Nikita Zadorov matched him with two helpers of his own to lead Boston in points. Swayman made 30 saves on 33 shots for a .909 save percentage, which is solid, dear, even if it wasn't enough to keep this one from going the distance. Give some credit to Skinner down the other end too — 26 saves, .867 — because somebody had to stop something in this one.

Mark Kastelic dropped the gloves with Tyrel Bauer back in the first period, 7:08 in, a good old-fashioned fighting major for each. My late husband always said a fight in the first period means both benches are awake. I don't know about that, but I appreciate the sentiment.

I will say this, and I'm not mad, I'm just saying: 24 giveaways is a lot of giveaways, and going 0-for-2 on the power play while the other fellas cashed in on theirs is the kind of thing that catches up to you eventually. Boston got away with it this time. Worth watching going forward.

Peterka, by the way, came over from Utah back in June, and scoring the overtime winner in his new sweater is about as good a welcome as a fella could ask for. The Bruins improve to 2-0 to start the year and lead the season series with Winnipeg, 1-0. Next up: Saturday night in Minnesota against the Wild.