BOSTON -- After losing 3-2 in a shootout to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, snapping a 10-game winning streak for Boston, the Bruins needed to respond in a big way against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday on home ice.
But the Jets gained a 2-0 lead midway through the first period before Bruins coach Claude Julien decided to call a timeout in an attempt to stifle Winnipeg's momentum.
It worked.
The Bruins got their legs moving and finally scored when Zdeno Chara capitalized with a power-play goal at 16:38 of the first period to cut Boston's deficit to one goal.
"Obviously good coaches know when to call timeout or make certain decisions and that was one of many," said Bruins forward Chris Kelly, who scored a pair of goals, including the game-winning tally.
Julien told his players to start moving their feet because there was too much standing around, especially in the neutral zone.
"It was just about slowing the game down a little bit," admitted Julien. "I felt that we weren't skating very well at that point. We were getting the puck and then we were looking instead of moving and our neutral zone speed just wasn't there at all. We were basically standing still a lot and that wasn't the way we need to play.
"We want to have a good first period and it wasn't happening. We needed to refocus and slow things down a bit."
The Bruins players heeded the coach's advice and turned in a winning performance and have now gained points in 12 consecutive games to sit atop the Northeast Division.