Jets end road trip with 4-1 win over Rangers

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This article was published 13/10/2015 (3734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK — They call Madison Square Garden ‘The World’s Most-Famous Arena’ for a reason. It’s been around for a spell and played host to countless memorable events.

And over the years a lot of blood has been spilled here during some of the greatest boxing matches in the history of the sport, from Ali vs. Frazier — twice — to LaMotta vs. Robinson and Louis vs. Marciano.

And so against that back drop what the Winnipeg Jets did Tuesday night in Manhattan — crank out a 4-1 victory over the New York Rangers in just the fourth game of their 2015-16 NHL season — will hardly rank anywhere on the memorable MSG moments list.

But in terms of doing the getting-up-off-the-mat thing, Tuesday’s performance by the Jets would not only make some legendary pugilists proud, it answered some questions this bunch had asked of itself after Monday’s loss to the New York Islanders.

“Today’s game was very important for us. (Against) a playoff team, coming off a real disappointing loss on back-to-back nights,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice. “What we did today here we did last year consistently. Every team needs to find its identity and needs to prove to itself that (they) can do it.

“Even if they’ve done it all of last year. It’s a new year. It’s really important mentally, for the psyche of our team, in terms of how we handle adversity.”

The result gave the Jets a solid 3-1 record on their season-opening road trip and sets up an excellent opportunity to continue sprinting out of the starting blocks with a six-game stand coming up next at MTS Centre.

THE START: The Jets preached for 27 hours or so that they would be better at puck drop and then backed it up in the opening period.

Guilty of playing the spectator — and beating a path straight to the penalty box — in the first period of Monday’s loss to the Islanders, the Jets were skating and on the puck much more aggressively a night later.

It started inauspiciously, though, with Blake Wheeler’s sloppy back pass missing Tyler Myers and turning into a Rangers 3-on-1 that was finished by Mats Zuccarello.

The Jets answered less than a minute later on the first goal of Nikolaj Ehlers’ career, an absolutely spectacular top-shelf cannon past Henrik Lundqvist.

“A few of us have seen that a few times, the game-breaking player he can be with one shot,” said Jets captain Andrew Ladd. “He can turn the game around. That’s something maybe our team has lacked in the past, a few of those guys. So far, he’s not only delivered on that side but is playing a pretty solid 200-foot game as well.”

“It kind of energizes the team when you see a guy get their first career goal like that,” added Bryan Little. “It was one of the nicer ones I’ve ever seen. Mine was ugly as hell.”

THE MIDDLE: Now, while the Jets promised to be more vigilant on the penalty front their second period was anything but. Winnipeg took five minors in the middle frame but — oddly enough — grabbed the lead while shorthanded when Bryan Little gobbled up a loose puck in the Rangers zone before snapping a shot past Lundqvist. It was Little’s first of the game and also served as the eventual game winner. He added another later, this one on the power-play, as the Jets battled through another night of penalty issues before the Rangers did the exact same thing with a penalty parade in the third.

THE LAST LINE OF DEFENCE IS SOLID… AGAIN: Michael Hutchinson kicked out 40 of the 41 shots he faced against the Rangers, giving the Jets their fourth consecutive night’s work by their goaltenders. Hutchinson and Pavelec played critical roles in all four games and exited the first week with a combined save percentage of .946.

“Very, very good,” said Maurice of Hutchinson. “There were stretches there, on their power play, early and then a lot of scrums at the net with traffic at the net. Mike is such a big man and he’s agile. He can seal that post really well. And he moved the puck pretty well for us, pretty effectively. He got us a couple of breakouts at key times where he made real smart plays with the puck.”

CLEAN UP IN AISLE 4: The Jets were solid in Boston and New Jersey and very iffy in Brooklyn against the Isles on Monday. And so to finish their trip 3-1 by addressing their concerns ASAP had everyone beaming afterward. Long way to go, for sure, but what happened over the last six days did have this team in a good mood when they headed home late Tuesday night.

“To come out 3-1 is big,” said Mark Stuart. “We weren’t happy with yesterday but it’s how you respond. That’s a really good team in this building and so that’s a great way to respond. We can go home feeling good about that, but it’s a long road ahead.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait