For Parker Ford, you couldn’t have scripted it any better.
Playing in his first career NHL game in Boston, the Wakefield, Rhode Island native tallied his first NHL goal as the Winnipeg Jets took down the Bruins 6-2 for their fifth straight win.
Just over a minute into the game, Brad Marchand took a cross-checking penalty that sent Winnipeg’s league-best power play to work.
The first unit couldn’t get the job done, but the second unit did at the 2:55 mark of the period.
The puck found its way to Nino Niederreiter in front of the net, he tried to go between his legs to put a shot on goal but the puck slid through his legs and right to Vlad Namestnikov for a tap-in to open the scoring.
Winnipeg thought they had a second goal on the board just a few minutes later when Josh Morrissey wired a slapshot past Joonas Korpisalo in transition but Cole Perfetti was clearly offside on the play. Boston challenged it and after a very swift review, the goal was taken off the board.
The Jets were unfazed, however, taking a 2-0 lead for real at the 11:31 mark when a Neal Pionk point shot was deftly deflected by Mark Scheifele and through Korpisalo’s five-hole for Scheifele’s 30th goal of the season.
Boston got back in the game late in the period when Marchand ripped a shot on the power play that beat Connor Hellebuyck through a screen, making it 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Neither team found the back of the net in the second period as each team failed on a power play chance. Boston outshot Winnipeg 11-10 after the Jets had an 11-9 advantage in that category in the first.
Right before the end of the second, Marchand was called for interference, giving Winnipeg 1:57 of power play time to start the third but Boston turned the tables on the Jets in the opening seconds of the period.
A blunder by Morrissey in his own end led to a great chance by Boston which Hellebuyck stopped, freezing the puck for a whistle. But on the ensuing faceoff, Pavel Zacha won the draw right to Elias Lindholm, who wired a shot past Hellebuyck to tie the game 11 seconds into the third.
Any momentum that the Bruins could have generated from the short-handed tally was quickly dismissed thanks to Scheifele, who put the Jets back in front just 24 seconds later.
He skated the puck through the neutral zone before sending a pass to Nikolaj Ehlers inside the Bruins blue line. Ehlers then sent it back to Scheifele as he darted through the slot, beating Korpisalo high to restore Winnipeg’s advantage.
The goal was the 328th of Scheifele’s career, drawing him even with Ilya Kovalchuk for most in Thrashers/Jets franchise history.
The chaotic start to the third continued when Ehlers got in on the fun just 42 seconds later. Mason Lohrei attempted to skate the puck out from behind the Boston net and cut inside toward the crease, but Ehlers was there to poke the puck off Lohrei’s stick and into the net with Korpisalo slow to get back in position.
The storybook moment for Ford, in the lineup after Morgan Barron was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, came at the 5:57 mark of the third. Logan Stanley was first to a loose puck along the wall in Boston’s end, skating it down below the goal line before sending a pass in front to Alex Iafallo.
The puck bounced away from Iafallo but right to the stick of Ford, who knocked it home for his first NHL goal as his teammates along with friends and family in attendance shot to their feet in joyous celebration.
Winnipeg more or less cruised from there with Kyle Connor scoring his 30th of the season into an empty net in the final minute.
Hellebuyck turned aside 27 shots for his 32nd victory of the season, and thanks to Washington’s overtime loss in Ottawa, Winnipeg now has the most points in the NHL with 75 in 53 games.
Fittingly, the Jets will meet the Capitals Saturday evening in D.C. Puck drop is just after 6 p.m. with pregame coverage on 680 CJOB starting at 4 p.m.