{"id":513735,"date":"2026-03-20T19:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/513735\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:56:11","slug":"3-stars-balanced-attack-powers-bruins-over-jets-98-5-the-sports-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/513735\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Stars: Balanced attack powers Bruins over Jets – 98.5 The Sports Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not every Bruins game can be Tuesday night in Montreal and with massive playoff implications on the line. Bruins head coach Marco Sturm knows as much, and made that clear to his team ahead of Thursday’s showdown with the down-and-out Jets. <\/p>\n

And the Bruins delivered with about as professional a win as Sturm & Co. could’ve hoped for, with a 6-1 drubbing of the Jets at TD Garden. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at the 985TheSportsHub.com 3 Stars of the game…<\/p>\n

3rd Star: Jonathan Aspirot\"\"<\/p>\n

Jan 11, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Bruins defenseman Jonathan Aspirot (45) skates with the puck during the third period at TD Garden. (Natalie Reid\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re talking about just a straight-up professional game from this one, we\u2019re talking about what the left-shooting Jonathan Aspirot<\/a> did on Boston\u2019s backend. <\/p>\n

Deployed for 17:17 of time on ice, Aspirot finished this game with two hits, two blocked shots, and even scored a goal en route to what was a plus-4 rating by the night\u2019s end.\u00a0In doing so, Aspirot became just the fourth Bruins rookie defenseman to post a plus-4 or better in a game in the 21st century. The others on that list, in case you’re wondering, are Nick Boynton, Adam McQuaid, and Brandon Carlo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2nd Star: Jeremy Swayman\"\"<\/p>\n

Mar 19, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) stops a shot by Winnipeg Jets center Gabriel Vilardi (13) during the second period at TD Garden. (Eric Canha-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

With six goals of run support at the other end of the rink, the Bruins didn’t need Jeremy Swayman<\/a> to stand on his head to give them a chance to win this game. <\/p>\n

But Swayman continued what’s been a strong post-Olympics run for the Black and Gold, this time with a strong 23-of-24 effort on the way to another victory. <\/p>\n

Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Swayman finished this game with expected goals against of 4.05, but allowed just one goal, which came on a Winnipeg power-play opportunity in the third period and with the game by all means decided. <\/p>\n

1st Star: Casey Mittelstadt\"\"<\/p>\n

Oct 30, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Casey Mittelstadt (11) skates with the puck during the first period against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

In a game that featured six different goal scorers, it was Casey Mittelstadt<\/a> who actually shined the brightest for the Bruins, with a pair of assists and a near-goal on a tremendous breakaway opportunity and move that just missed. <\/p>\n

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Mittelstadt’s ability to thrive while playing away from his natural center position this year has completely flown under the radar. In fact, it feels like the success of that Bruins second line as a whole \u2014 with Mittelstadt riding to the left of Pavel Zacha and Viktor Arvidsson \u2014 has flown under the radar outside (and maybe even inside) of Boston. But with 13 goals and 36 points through 59 games this season, the Bruins are definitely getting what they need out of No. 11. <\/p>\n

“He gets in there and he’s very strong with the stick,” Sturm said of Mittelstadt. “He’s one of the guys I trust him on the wall anytime of the game, and he just makes those plays. It’s the combo, I think it just works really well with these guys.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not every Bruins game can be Tuesday night in Montreal and with massive playoff implications on the line.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5121],"tags":[95,5379,5,156,78,40692,4,77,18,5288],"class_list":{"0":"post-513735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg-jets","8":"tag-boston-bruins","9":"tag-casey-mittelstadt","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-jeremy-swayman","12":"tag-jets","13":"tag-jonathan-aspirot","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-winnipeg","16":"tag-winnipeg-jets","17":"tag-winnipegjets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116263273982852611","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}