“Re-energized” Bruins top line leads the way in shootout loss

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BOSTON – There’s no doubting that the nine days off did wonders for Boston’s Perfection Line.

Of course, it didn’t lead to a two-point victory when it was all said and done on Tuesday night, but the good news in the Bruins 4-3 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets is that Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak are once again looking like they’re at the top of their game.

All three looked heavy-legged and lacked some of the usual energy to their game right ahead of the five day bye week and NHL All-Star weekend. All three essentially looked like they could have used the midseason break that was coming their way.

Fast-forward to this week and Bergeron and Pastrnak powered the Bruins offense in the shootout loss that earned them a point, and basically once again the Perfection Line powered a B’s offense that was pretty one-dimensional.

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“Anytime you have that much time off it’s going to be good for the body and you’re going to feel re-energized,” said Bergeron, who finished with the two goals, six shots on net and was 20-for-31 in the face-off circle. “The other side is you got to make sure your feelings back on the ice and making sure you just get your rhythm back and what not, I thought that was a strong game from that side of things. We kept things simple, we played a good hockey club and I thought it was a good game.”

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Things looked incredibly good for the Bruins after one period as both Bergeron and Pastrnak had scored goals after sweet setups from Marchand, and the Bruins as a team had outshot the Jets by a 20-8 margin over the opening 20 minutes. The Bruins actually faded a bit in the second period even as the B’s top line kept the positive shifts coming, but it was Bergeron and Co. again in the third with the game-tying strike where Marchand-and-Bergeron teamed for a scoring play at the Winnipeg net. Clearly there was no rust on any of them against a warmed up Winnipeg hockey club that had also played the previous night.

“There wasn’t much rust. Against a team like that, they played last night so they kind of had their legs on them a bit. We had a great first. We put a goal there early and kind of kept rolling from there. We outshot them a lot, and had some really good opportunities,” said Marchand. “I thought we had a really good game for the first game back.

“[It was] just unfortunate the way it kind of played out in the third. We have to do a lot better closing out games but we got points. We got to continue to build and get ready for the next one.”

Clearly it would have been better for the Bruins if they’d come out of the game with the win, and banked another two points in a division where they’re going to need as many as they can get. But as consolation prizes go, the rejuvenated and refreshed top line for the Bruins was a pretty good one with the knowledge that they’re going to need to be that good night in, night out in the season’s second half over the next three months. 

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