By Canadian Press

Brandon Tanev has hat trick in Jets 5-4 shootout win over Bruins

Mar 27, 2018 | 9:30 PM

WINNIPEG — Brandon Tanev will have to watch video of himself celebrating his first NHL career hat trick because he can’t remember what he did.

The sophomore fourth-line Winnipeg Jets forward scored his third goal of the game early in the third period of what ended up as a Winnipeg 5-4 shootout victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. Patrik Laine scored the deciding goal.

“I kind of blacked out and didn’t really know what I was doing,” Tanev said of the moment when hats started raining down on the ice from the crowd at Bell MTS Place. “It was just a great feeling.”

Laine deked and his shot in the fourth round trickled under goalie Anton Khudobin. Mark Scheifele also scored in the shootout for Winnipeg and Bruins rookie Ryan Donato put one by netminder Connor Hellebuyck.

The victory gave the playoff-bound Jets a sweep of their six-game homestand.

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“You’re so happy for him” Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said of Tanev. “That line doesn’t really have a glamourous job. They’re supposed to go out there and basically just shut down the other team’s best players, play heavy on them. They’ve done just an outstanding job of it all year, especially when they’ve been healthy.

“I’m sure he’s going to remember this for a long time. That was as excited as I’ve seen our bench all year.”

Defenceman Joe Morrow had his first goal since being traded to Winnipeg (47-19-10) from Montreal last month, and sixth of the season. Adam Lowry had a pair of assists.

Donato, Danton Heinen, David Pastrnak and Torey Krug had goals for the Bruins (47-17-11), who scored a trio of power-play markers. Krug added one assist and Brad Marchand recorded a pair of helpers.

“It’s tough to play in this building,” Pastrnak said. “It’s a hell of a point for us. We had chances to get two, but at the same time we could have zero.”

Hellebuyck made 28 saves to pick up his 40th win for the Jets. It was also their seventh straight victory at home.

Khudobin also stopped 28 shots as Boston ended a four-game road trip (2-0-2).

The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period and Winnipeg led 3-1 after the second frame, which ended with Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey being handed a major for boarding defenceman Matt Grzelcyk. He didn’t return and Boston coach Bruce Cassidy had no update.

The Bruins responded by pumping in a pair of power-play goals, first by Heinen and then Pastrnak. The Jets challenged Heinen’s goal at 1:45 for offside, but it stood. Winnipeg was then dinged for delay of game for the challenge and Pastrnak scored at 3:36.

“You see a guy that’s played an important role for our team since guys have gone down take a heavy hit there, you want to step up for him,” Krug said of Grzelcyk. “We don’t back down from anyone so it kind of lit a fire into our team and our group.”

Tanev, a 26-year-old Toronto native, scored his third goal of the game with an unassisted short-handed marker at 4:29 to take a 4-3 lead. Krug tied it 4-4 at 8:06 with another power-play goal through traffic after Scheifele was sent to the penalty box for cross-checking Krug.

Winnipeg outshot the visitors 4-3 in overtime. Hellebuyck got a piece of Marchand’s breakaway shot in the dying seconds.

“It was kind of a weird game,” Wheeler said. “And then we had to kill (penalties) seemingly all night. The guys out on the kill lost their juice a little bit. You’ve just got to battle. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again, but you never know.

“We might have to go through that sometime this spring, and you’ve got to find a way to go through it.”

Donato’s unassisted goal late in the first was his third goal and fifth point in his fifth NHL game.

Wheeler picked up as assist on Morrow’s goal, giving him 600 career points. It extended the captain’s point streak to seven games, with two goals and eight assists.

Winnipeg hits the road for a four-game trip, starting Thursday in Chicago. Boston goes home to host Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press