Hutch proves he’s clutch once more

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This article was published 10/02/2015 (3929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After losing four in a row in January, there was some concern that Michael Hutchinson had lost his mojo.

The surprising Winnipeg Jets goalie got the nod Tuesday night against the Minnesota Wild but came into the game having lost four in a row. One was a hook in Calgary and the latest was a tight overtime game decision Friday against Chicago.

The worry, it seems, was unfounded.

Hutchinson was on his game Tuesday against the Wild and prevailed 2-1 in an overtime decision. He stopped 29 of 30 Minnesota shots.

“Hutch’s game against Chicago was spectacular,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “Our goaltending was no different than our team. We weren’t quite as good on that trip, not quite as sharp, and it exposed our goalies more, but we got back and got a little rest and got right.”

Tuesday’s test was stern — Minnesota had won six straight coming into the MTS Centre.

“That’s huge,” said Hutchinson, who moved his record to 15-7-3 on the season. “We went on a bit of a skid there so it’s nice to put two wins together, especially how tight things are and how well Minnesota’s playing. That game was huge, to put a little more distance between us.”

The Jets stretched their lead over Minnesota in the Central Division to seven points, though the Wild have played three fewer games.

“(Goalie Devan Dubnyk) has been playing great all season and you knew he was going to come out and make some good saves,” Hutchinson said. “He did in the first period (15 saves), really held their team in there and gave them a chance.

“When games like that happen, you know you really have to buckle down because you might only get one or two on the night and those are the nights where two goals have to be the ones that give you the win.”

The decision improved Winnipeg’s beyond-60 record to 8-10 this season, now 4-6 in games decided in the five-minute extra period.

“Yeah, I was kind of looking forward to getting into a shootout,” Hutchinson said. “But I’ll take an overtime win over a shootout any day.

Style points: The transition and the maturation of the Jets’ game was on display Tuesday night, Jets captain Andrew Ladd said.

The team is now 28-18-10 on the season, and is 2-1-1 against Minnesota this season.

“I think that’s why we had such a tough time with them the first couple of years, because they were playing that style and we were trying to stretch them out and play a bit of run-and-gun,” Ladd said. “You see how that worked against them.

“Now that we’re playing a solid game from our end out, it makes for a tighter game.”

Taking care of the puck has become a high priority.

“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Ladd said of that element in Tuesday’s game. “That’s one of our areas we needed to get better at, trying not to overplay it in our own end. We want to hold onto it and have a tendency sometimes to hold onto it a little too much in our own end and try to make a perfect play instead of chipping into support.

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“Tonight, I thought we did a pretty good job of moving it quick.”

Comfort in this kind of game now is a must, Maurice said.

“It’ll all get like that now,” the coach said. “We probably saw a bit of that in the Chicago game. They were real careful with the puck, too.

“I thought it was a tough grind. You had just had to get comfortable in the game and you couldn’t start doing different things because their goaltender was so good. And we didn’t. We stuck with it and got a break on a shot to the net and a spectacular overtime goal.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca