Ugly but still worth two points

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This article was published 26/11/2014 (4036 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BUFFALO — Some study a portrait of Elvis — in velvet, no less — and see zero artistic merit. Others find a spot for the rendering to be featured prominently in their abode.

Yes, ugly very much is in the eye of the beholder.

And so while many saw the Winnipeg Jets’ 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday night as a yawn-inducing affair, the man who backstopped the victory and the boss of the team who authored it couldn’t have been more pleased.

At one end of the Jets dressing room, Bryan Little was embracing the notion of winning ugly. And at the other:

“Sometimes it’s not pretty. Sometimes you have to battle through,” said goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. “At the end of the day it’s about two points. But I don’t think today was ugly. I thought we played smart enough to get the win. For me, as a goalie, I didn’t see too many shots for two periods and that’s good. We played good defensively.

“Yeah, sometimes it’s ugly but this was a smart game. For the fans it wasn’t pretty but, for us, we got what we wanted: two points.”

Added Jets coach Paul Maurice on the lunch-pail and hard-hat blueprint his troops have adopted:

“It’s what we’re good at. It’s the kind of people we have. They’re a highly competitive group and we can suffer some adversity through the course of the game and still manage to survive.”

SMALL PICTURE: WHAT IT MEANS

The Jets improved to 12-9-3 and 27 points to remain in the Western Conference playoffs discussion. Just as impressive is the team is now 8-4-2 away from home after winning games on consecutive nights on the road.

Granted, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Sabres are hardly the Kings and Penguins, but…

“You don’t really want to look at the standings and where the other teams are,” said Michael Frolik, whose shorthanded marker in the second period was the game winner. “In this league, every team is hard to play against. Every game is hard. There’s no easy ones. We wanted to focus on our game, that’s what we did.”

COMING SOON TO UPSTATE NEW YORK: A RUN ON McDAVID JERSEYS

Full credit to the Jets for a workman-like road win, but the assembled Sabres faithful at First Niagara Center were left with two options after watching a dreadful performance by the home side, especially through the first 40 minutes: 1. Rinse out/gouge out their eyes; 2. Cross their fingers and toes the franchise can win the Connor McDavid sweepstakes and grab the consensus No. 1 pick in next spring’s draft.

Buffalo — who hadn’t played since Saturday — actually carried a three-game win streak into Wednesday, the last a 2-1 victory in Washington. But the Sabres had zero zip against the Jets through the first two periods before a tiny push back in the third.

And they certainly heard it from the crowd.

Two popular hashtags were revived by Sabres fans during the game: #MissionMcDavid and — after defenceman Andre Benoit gift-wrapped the shorty by Frolik in the second period — #EmbraceTheTank.

“The first period or period-and-a-half or so I thought our hands… we were handling it like a grenade,” said Sabres coach Ted Nolan. “It just kept bouncing and bouncing and we couldn’t grab a hold of it.

“Then all of a sudden in the third period we played the way we have to to be successful. I think the biggest message is we have to play like that for 60 minutes. If we do, we’ll be OK. If we don’t, we know how it’s going to turn out.”

A RALLY SNUFFED OUT

The Sabres did out-shoot the Jets 10-7 in the third period and after Chris Stewart pulled them to within one at 2-1, had a glorious chance to tie the game when Matt Moulson was robbed by Pavelec on a shorthanded 2-on-1 opportunity.

That save, one of 19 for Pavelec, was critical in him improving his record to 8-8-2 with a 2.23 goals-against average and save percentage of 91.9.

“Every time the game is like that, something is coming,” said Pavelec. “It’s never like that for 60 minutes. We knew that after playing like that for two periods they were coming. We knew. They had a few chances, I’m happy they scored only one goal.

“They guys helped me in the first two periods so it was up to me to help them in the third.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait