Bruins tie it late, Peterka scores winner in OT vs. Jets

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Oct 2, 2026

Published in Hockey

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If the Bruins have shown anything in their first two games of the season, it is that they just might be pretty good at winning time.

After the B’s won their season opener with three goals in the final four minutes against the Rangers on Tuesday, they came from behind to tie the game late and then beat the Winnipeg Jets in overtime on a JJ Peterka goal for a 4-3 victory at Canadian Life Centre on Friday. Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves for the win.

The B’s shook off some damaging mistakes in the first two period to come away with the two points.

Trailing 3-2 thanks to a late second period Winnipeg goal, the B’s ratcheted up the pressure in the third period. Winnipeg goalie Stuart Skinner, who gave up a weak goal in the first period, came up with some big stops as the Jets clung to the lead. David Pastrnak sent JJ Peterka off on a partial breakaway but Skinner stopped his tough wrister. Skinner also turned away a good chance from Casey Mittelstadt in the slot. He was also fortunate as Will Borgen clanged the post to the netminder’s left. Peterka was stoned again on the 6-on-5 with Jeremy Swayman pulled.

But coming out of a timeout, the B’s tied it up with 1:38 left in regulation. After Elias Lindholm won the faceoff, Pastrnak sent a perfect pass from just above the right circle for Lindholm to redirect it past Skinner.

Then in OT, Peterka finally got his goal. Again it was Pastrnak who sprung him free and this time his wrister beat Skinner for the winner.

The game ended much better than it started.

The Bruins were forced into survival mode at the start of the game but managed to come out of the first period with a 2-1 lead, thanks to a very good 20 minutes from Swayman.

It started on the first shift of the game when Hampus Lindholm gave away the puck and Swayman was forced to saves on Mark Scheifele and then Kyle Connor.

Jonathan Aspirot took a crosschecking penalty 2:24 into the game and the B’s managed to kill that off. But at 4:52, Winnipeg defenseman Dylan DeMelo scored on a seeing-eye shot from the right point for the 1-0.

The B’s were being outshot 8-1 at the point that Mark Kastelic decided to do what he does to change the momentum. And he did it the hard way. He dropped the gloves with the Jet’s young tough guy Tyrel Bauer and both combatants landed heavy shots, though neither fighter went down, remarkably. Bauer caught Kastelic a couple of times in the schnozz, splattering the Bruin’s white jersey with blood.

The fight had it’s intended effect — it woke up the B’s.

They tied it up at 9:23, thanks to Skinner’s generosity. From the blue line, Hampus Lindholm fired a slapshot that Skinner appeared to see all the way but he just whiffed with his glove and it was all tied up.

James Hagens then gave the B’s the lead with his first career NHL goal. Kastelic, with his nose plugged up with gauze, changed on to the ice and barreled toward the slot to gather a Fraser Minten pass. He lost the puck at the last instant but Nikita Zadorov was there to shoot it off Skinner’s pad. It produced a perfect bounce for Hagens and the 19-year-old rookie scored the keep-the-puck goal at 15:20.

The B’s got a little sloppy at the end of the period but Swayman (11 saves in the first) bailed them out.

The lead did not last long into the second period. The B’s started it like they did the first period, turning pucks over left and right. Elias Lindholm then took a bad tripping penalty at the offensive blue line at 1:34.

Just 16 seconds later, the Jets tied it. Swayman was having a hard time finding a loose puck and, with Zadorov parked in front, he had little chance at stopping Connor’s shot from the bottom of the circle.

The B’s got two power plays in the second period. The second one was better than the first but neither bore fruit.

The sloppiness that they survived at the end of the first bit them in the backside at the end of the second. With 12 seconds left in the period, the B’s got running around in their own end until Mario Ferraro beat Swayman with a shot from above the circle that appeared to go off David Pastrnak’s leg to give Winnipeg, 3-2 lead going into the third.