Buff takes charge against Leafs

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This article was published 03/01/2015 (3908 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Look, there were a lot of things that went right for the Winnipeg Jets Saturday night at MTS Centre as they snapped a two-game losing streak with a 5-1 thrashing of the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Playing against the NHL’s highest-scoring offence, the Jets recaptured the stifling defensive game that has carried them through much of this season but was noticeably absent during the club’s previous two losses. The high-octane Leafs mustered just 21 shots, not many of them good ones.

On the rare occasion the Leafs threatened offensively, the Jets got solid goaltending from Michael Hutchinson, who was starting for the fourth time in the last five games and appears to now be the de facto Jets starter.

Head coach Paul Maurice’s move to promote T.J. Galiardi to the club’s third line paid immediate dividends, with Galiardi scoring his first of the season early in the second period and linemate Matt Halischuk adding a marker of his own a couple of minutes later.

All those things were good. All those things were important ingredients in this critical Jets win.

But this particular hockey night in Canada, more than anything else, belonged to Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, who authored one of those dominating performances that are unique to a man who can combine the brute force required to intimidate an opponent’s entire lineup with the skilled hands of an offensive craftsman.

Byfuglien was physically dominating all night long, setting the tone in the first two minutes of the game with a hard hit on Leafs sniper Phil Kessel that sent Kessel to the dressing room for equipment repairs and foreshadowed what was to come for Leafs forwards who dared to tread in the Jets zone on this night.

And as good as he was in his own zone, Byfuglien was just as dominating in the Leaf’s zone. Galiardi’s goal at 3:29 of the second period was all about Byfuglien first overpowering two Leafs defenders to get the puck deep into the Toronto zone.

Then Byfuglien scored one of his own seven minutes later, finding a tiny bit of daylight amidst the traffic in front of Leafs netminder James Reimer to notch his ninth of the season and put the Jets up 3-1 and in control.

It was a freak show, in other words. But in the very best sense of the term.

“Best player on the ice — just a dominant force in all aspects of the game,” Maurice said of Byfuglien afterward.

“You’re seeing a guy that’s a dominant defenceman and you cannot find those guys. You can find top-nine forwards, but you cannot find players like Dustin Byfuglien on the blue-line as he is now.”

Byfuglien was asked if last night’s performance — particularly his second period — was the best he’s ever played. “No, not even close,” laughed Byfuglien. “I’m playing pretty good. I’m just running with what I’ve got right now and enjoying every minute of it.”

 

Defying the odds

The Leafs were slumping coming into Winnipeg, having lost the night before to the Wild in St. Paul and having gone just 2-6 in their last eight games.

Even against that bleak backdrop, things looked great for Toronto when former Jet Mike Santorelli scored at 2:19 of the second period to put Toronto up 1-0.

The Leafs have been soul-crushingly dominant when scoring the first goal of the game this season, carrying a 16-3-0 record when they draw first blood prior to last night.

But it was a different script on this night as Galiardi erased the Toronto advantage just 1:10 later. Goals by Halischuk and Byfuglien followed in rapid succession and the Jets were in control, up 3-1 halfway through the middle frame.

A power-play goal at 3:37 of the third period by Jets centre Bryan Little — the Jets fourth goal in the last three games with the man advantage — put Winnipeg up 4-1. Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot rounded out the scoring for Winnipeg, scoring the first goal of his NHL career at 10:55 of the third period.

Up next

The Jets play the San Jose Sharks Monday night at MTS Centre before embarking on a hellacious seven-games-in-11-nights stretch that begins Thursday night in Arizona.

With last night’s win, Winnipeg is back above .500 at home at 9-8-3

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek