“To say (Pavelec) has been on his game is a bit of an understatement, he’s been spectacular,” said Blake Wheeler, who had two goals for the Jets.
At the start of the lockoutshortened season Noel said goaltending was going to be more important than ever for any team that wanted to make the playoffs.
Wheeler and Evander Kane scored 57 seconds apart in the third as the Jets took charge of a game that Boston had controlled for more than two periods.
Wheeler also added an empty-netter for the Jets, who leapfrogged Carolina again to take the lead in the Southeast Division with 34 points. The Hurricanes lost 4-1 to Florida and are two points back.
Brad Marchand scored for the Bruins, who dropped their second straight and are two points back of Montreal for the lead in the Northeast.
Until the third, the Bruins had given the Jets a lesson in tight defensive play and it was Pavelec who kept them in the game.
The only goal he allowed came just eight seconds into the second period. Marchand grabbed a loose puck right beside the Winnipeg net and scored because of a mistake by Zach Bogosian.
Pavelec said later it was just a bad bounce, but it did seem to take the wind out of Winnipeg’s sails in the second.
The Jets defenseman bounced the puck off the net instead of clearing it, Marchand swooped in and was free and clear to slip it in from the edge of the crease.
The Jets managed to shut down the Bruins in the first period even though Boston had two power-play opportunities.
The Jets didn’t score until 11:44 of the third, when Wheeler redirected Bogosian’s shot from the blueline past Tuukka Rask on a power play.
Then Kane slammed home Grant Clitsome’s rebound to put the Jets ahead at 12:41.
Rask stopped 22 shots for Boston.
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