WINNIPEG — Patrice Bergeron couldn’t have asked for a better response after his Boston Bruins were embarrassed earlier this week.
Bergeron scored a pair of goals and Brett Connolly added a trio of assists as the Bruins downed the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 on Thursday night.
Boston had been coming off a 9-2 home loss to Los Angeles on Tuesday.
“We talked about learning from that game and putting it in the past also and moving forward and that’s all we can really do,” said Bergeron, who snapped a five-game goal drought.
“I thought tonight was a great response.”
Loui Eriksson and Brad Marchand each had a goal and an assist. David Pastrnak and Jimmy Hayes also scored for the Bruins (29-19-6).
Bryan Little had a goal and an assist and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Winnipeg (24-27-3). Blake Wheeler picked up a pair of assists.
The teams combined for five goals in the first period, then went scoreless in the second.
Pastrnak gave Boston a 4-2 lead 35 seconds into the third period when he put his own rebound past goalie Michael Hutchinson.
“That one in the third, at the start of the third, I think kind of killed us,” Little said. “It was a one-goal game going into the third. We were ready to come out, but that quick one, to get down by two at the start, I mean it’s not easy.”
Bergeron’s second marker of the game was scored after he used Connolly’s close rebound at 7:42 of the final period. Hayes put one in the empty net.
Tuukka Rask made 34 saves for Boston.
Rookie Connor Hellebuyck started in goal for Winnipeg, but was replaced by Hutchinson after the Bruins led 3-2 at the first intermission.
Hellebuyck had stopped eight of the 11 shots he faced. Hutchinson finished with 25 saves off 27 shots.
“Sometimes enough’s enough for a guy,” Maurice said of his decision to pull Hellebuyck. “To be great, you’ve to be real good and you’ve also got to have it going for you around the net.”
The Bruins have won their last five road games. The victory marked the first game of a season-long, six-game road trip for Boston, which travels to Edmonton for a Saturday tilt against the Oilers.
Marchand scored his 26th goal of the season with a backhand shot to make it 3-2 at 18:45 of the first. He extended his points streak to five games, including six goals and one assist.
“I think we have a really good line right now that’s connecting,” Marchand said. “(Bergeron) and (Connolly) have been playing great and all three goals our line was on for they won battles and competed hard and made really good plays. And I think I’m just benefiting from that.”
The loss was the eighth time this season the Jets failed to put up three wins in a row.
Bergeron scored his 20th of the season at 1:38 of the first period after making slick moves around two Jets defenders in front of the net.
Winnipeg responded with Little’s goal at 3:29, but Eriksson regained the lead at 16:34 after Hayes forced a turnover.
Ehlers scored on the power play just under a minute later, then Marchand regained the lead.
Winnipeg outshot the Bruins 18-11 in the first and 30-25 after the second.
The third fight in the testy match even featured Bergeron and Wheeler.
“It’s really nothing, just got into it a little bit and that was the end of it,” Wheeler said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for that guy.
“It’s kind of nice to have a little bit of that out there. Not much going on like that in the game today, so any time you try to get your team going it was good.”
Winnipeg heads out for a four-game road trip, starting Saturday in Edmonton.
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