Peterka's OT goal caps Bruins late comeback against Jets

WINNIPEG — JJ Peterka scored at 3:21 of overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 4-3 come-from-behind win against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Friday.

The forward, who was acquired in a trade with the Utah Mammoth on June 26, got the puck from David Pastrnak on a breakaway and scored through Stuart Skinner's five-hole.

“I knew when (Pastrnak was) getting that I just have to take off and he'll find me on the way,” Peterka said. “He kind of got the guy pulled to him, and an unbelievable pass. I know when the puck is getting in his hands, I just try to take off.”

Said Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm: “It’s almost like he smells blood when he sees half a breakaway. I've never seen someone so fast, and then obviously he knows how to finish it off. He doesn't make it look easy, but people don't understand how hard it is, what he does. So we're glad to have him on our side.”

Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm, and James Hagens also scored for the Bruins (2-0-0), who shut out the New York Rangers 3-0 on Tuesday. Jeremy Swayman made 30 saves, and Pastrnak and Nikita Zadorov each had two assists.

“We know how good (the Jets) are, how talented they are,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “They’re just a well-structured team over there who compete really hard and have some really good weapons. … I thought their goalie was really good today too. Skinner, good for him that he had a good game. But overall, that's the team you're going to face playing really hard and they're tough around the net.”

Skinner made 26 saves in his debut for Winnipeg, which was playing its season opener. Kyle Connor had a goal and an assist, Dylan DeMelo and Mario Ferraro scored, and Adam Lowry had two assists.

“I think both teams came out to play,” Skinner said. “There were moments where we had our pushes, moments where Boston had theirs. I thought Swayman and I held both teams in, made some good saves at good times. On my side, what I saw from our guys is a lot of battle, a lot of compete, a lot of speed."

Skinner signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract ($3.75 million average annual value) with Winnipeg on July 1. He was promoted to the No. 1 goaltender position after Connor Hellebuyck was suspended on Sept. 16 for failing to report to training camp. 

Hellebuyck had announced on Aug. 27 that he had requested a trade away from the Jets "several months ago.” 

“I think the organization in total has done a really good job bringing good leaders into this room,” Skinner said. “Good people, people who care about each other, guys who fight hard for each other. That's what you see in this group in here, a team that really cares about each other. There's been some guys that have been with each other for quite a few years, quite a long time. When new guys come in, like me and (Ferraro) and Viggo (Bjorck), all these guys, they make sure that you're part of the family right away.”

With Swayman pulled for the extra attacker, Elias Lindholm tied it 3-3 with 1:38 remaining in the third period. He tipped in Pastrnak's shot from outside the right circle to force overtime.

“Spotter drew a nice play,” Sturm said. “We had to execute it very well. I mean, once in a while it actually works, we forget about the other ones. But that was just a play we always try to work on, even 5-on-4. That was a big, big goal.”

DeMelo made it 1-0 for the Jets at 4:52 of the first period, scoring with a one-timer from the point that beat a screened Swayman high on his stick side.

“For the first game of the year, I thought it went real, real good,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “We were good in a lot of areas. It wasn’t a complete 60 (-minute effort), but there was a lot of really good things. I loved our start. (Boston) kind of turned it with some transition there, and probably the last five of the first. But I thought each period we came out hard. They're a good team. They transitioned fast, like we had talked about prior (and) they attacked the inside. I thought we did the same thing. We went after them. We had some opportunities as well. Tough way to lose it, but for our first game, there was a lot of good stuff. Obviously, there's some teaching in there, but there was really a lot of good stuff.”

Hampus Lindholm tied it 1-1 at 9:23 when his one-timer from the blue line went under Skinner’s glove.

“I try to shoot more, try to jump in more,” Lindholm said. “I feel a bit fresher too, obviously no knee surgery this summer. So it's nice. I just feel like myself, just try to play my game and it's fun to see one go in.”

Hagens scored his first NHL goal to make it 2-1 for the Bruins at 15:20. Mark Kastelic drove the net, and Zadorov tapped it across the crease to Hagens, who then slid it under an outstretched Skinner.

“Honestly, you kind of black out for a second there,” Hagens said. “It’s something that I’ll always remember, so I’m just grateful it happened. … I’ll definitely give (the puck) to my parents. They’ve done everything they possibly could and I can’t thank them enough. They’re the reason I’m here.”

Connor tied it 2-2 on the power play at 1:50 of the second period. He collected the puck from a net-front scramble and scored five-hole on Swayman.

“I like a lot of what we did,” Connor said. “There's mistakes, but we came out strong. We had a little bit of a dip there, and obviously they got one to tie it up (3-3). But overall, I thought we played pretty quick. A lot of things to clean up as well, just details, tracking back a little bit better. … Obviously the result wasn't there, but we can build off that.”

Ferraro gave the Jets a 3-2 lead at 19:52, scoring with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.

“We’ve got 83 to go,” Arniel said. “We've got five (games) in eight days here, so it's just build off this, kind of like we've been doing from the first day of training camp. Showing them our systems, and getting details down and learning from tonight so that when we go to Detroit (Sunday), we’re hopefully one step quicker.”

NOTES: Hagens (19 years, 333 days) became the second teenager to score his first NHL goal with the Bruins in the past eight years, joining Matthew Poitras (19 years, 226 days on Oct. 22, 2023). … Connor extended his goal streak in season openers to nine games, which is the longest run in NHL history. ... Bjorck had two shots and a takeaway while playing 15:42 in his NHL debut. The 18-year-old was selected by Winnipeg with the No. 8 pick of the 2026 NHL Draft. … Jets defenseman Tyrel Bauer had three hits in 5:58 in his NHL debut.