Preview: Boston Bruins at Winnipeg Jets

Feb 17, 2012; Winnipeg, MB, CAN; Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron (37) and Winnipeg Jets forward Jim Slater (19) await face off during the first period at the MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

The second game of the Bruins five game road trip will be in Winnipeg as the Bruins take on the Jets Sunday at 6:00PM EST. This will also be the last home game for the Jets, as they will go on a five game road trip of their own after Sunday’s game.

The Bruins are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. After playing two great periods, the Bruins simply didn’t show up in the third, which certainly is uncharacteristic of them. Buffalo scored three unanswered goals in the third period to win the game. I definitely don’t expect anything like that to happen again anytime soon for the Bruins. The Jets also lost their last game 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams come into Sunday’s game losing two straight and both will hope to get back on the winning trail.

Last time these two teams met in January, the Bruins edged out the Jets 2-1 in a shootout. The Bruins had to kill a penalty for the final 1:28 of overtime just to get to the shootout (they were 4 for 4 on the penalty kill in the game). Tuukka Rask was spectacular though; he stopped 26 of 27 shots and only let one goal up in the shootout. Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron scored in the shootout while Blake Wheeler scored the lone goal for Winnipeg.

Both teams are clearly hungry for a win. After the Bruins poor third period performance in Buffalo, I expect them to come out firing in this game. I assume that Tuukka Rask will get the nod in goal as he rested last game. After letting up a couple soft goals against the Rangers in his last start, Tuukka will be sure to come out and have a strong performance to redeem himself. The Bruins have been very good on the road under head coach Claude Julien and the final four games of this road trip are against teams that don’t have a winning record. In many Bruins fan’s eyes, they should come away with four wins to end this road trip, and it all starts in Winnipeg Sunday night.