Jets blow lead, again, but beat Devils 4-3 in OT

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This article was published 01/12/2018 (2471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEWARK, N.J. — Mark Scheifele’s defensive gem shifted into a golden offensive chance — and that resulted in an emotional overtime win for the Winnipeg Jets here Saturday night.

The Jets top-line centre stripped the puck from Devils’ dynamic young forward Nico Hischier late in the three-on-three session, turned and fired a shot at goalie Keith Kinkaid and then stretched to bat in his own rebound to power his club to a 4-3 triumph at a sold-out, electric Prudential Center.

It was Scheifele’s second goal of the game and 15th of the season, as Winnipeg (15-8-2) rebounded from a late third-period meltdown to pick up two points to begin a three-game road trip in the New York area.

The Jets play the Rangers today at 6 p.m. CT. Expect the hosts to be snarly after falling 5-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Scheifele barely had any fuel left in the tank after several rushes in OT and a gutsy, 150-foot backcheck that left him sprawled on the ice after crashing into the end boards. But his back pressure on Hischier was emblematic of his no-quit push all evening.

“There was lots of emotion and Mark was wired all night. I thought he was really, really good all night and battled defensively,” said Winnipeg bench boss Paul Maurice. “It’s what we’re trying to get better at, and as a leader he took it very seriously and competed really hard tonight.”

Devils coach John Hynes called a timeout in OT to rest his own stars, and that provided Winnipeg’s offensive drivers on the night — Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and blue-liner Josh Morrissey — a short respite before the final few shifts.

“I just grabbed it from him, I was pretty exhausted at the time, so wanted to get a shot off and was happy the rebound came to me,” Scheifele said.

The Jets and Devils swapped juicy chances in the extra period but goalie Laurent Brossoit was brilliant for the visitors while Kinkaid was dynamite for the Devils.

Brossoit thwarted a two-man breakaway by Hischier and 2018 NHL Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall, who let the final shot go after a couple of quick passes back and forth.

“You know what, sometimes I don’t mind a two-on-0, a lot of the times the opposing players will complicate rather than a breakaway… I was lucky I came across and made a save,” said the Jets netminder, now 5-1-1 this season in stellar back-up duty.

“For me, it doesn’t matter how we win. The 3-1 victory would have been less exciting than the 3-3 going into overtime and then our guys just dominated in overtime. It was unreal watching, especially watch Scheifele and Wheels check their butts off, stick-lift central. It was fun to watch,” Brossoit said.

“There was lots of emotion and Mark was wired all night. I thought he was really, really good all night and battled defensively” – head coach Paul Maurice, on Mark Scheifele’s play in New Jersey

Kinkaid absolutely robbed Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor on consecutive chances that would have ended the game earlier in OT.

Winnipeg led 3-1 with just over five minutes left in regulation time but couldn’t nail it down. Morrissey and Andrew Copp, in his first game back after missing three with a concussion, scored within three minutes of each other midway through the final frame. But the Devils’ Jesper Bratt fired a power-play goal with 4:19 left in the game (Ben Chiarot, a physical presence all night for Winnipeg, was in the box on a questionable holding penalty).

Then, Hall dug a puck out of a pile of players in the crease and scored the tying goal with 1:56 left and the Devils net empty.

But Maurice defended his crew, suggesting there was no similarities to late sags against both the Minnesota Wild and Pittsburgh Penguins in the last 10 days.

“Not even close (to losing leads in recent games). I liked our whole game. Two things I don’t like, being in the penalty box, but I loved the kill. And then 6-on-5 (with Kinkaid out for an extra attacker) probably a little fatigue on our back end. We couldn’t get a handle on the puck,” Maurice said. “Other than that, I liked the way we played.”

Scheifele scored his 14th goal of the season in the second period to even the contest 1-1. Wheeler hit Scheifele with a saucer pass through traffic, the Jets captain’s 29th helper of the year.

Marcus Johansson had opened the scoring for New Jersey at 6:45 of the first period. Jets blue-liner Sami Niku knocked the puck off Bratt’s stick but it slid right to Johannson, who cut to the front and ripped shot past Brossoit low to the far side.

Kinkaid’s best stop in the opening frame came off Jack Roslovic, who was left wide open in the slot. Johansson scored his fifth of the season on the next rush down the ice, just six seconds after the brilliant save.

Later, Roslovic’s fourth-line unit was rewarded when it’s dogged effort down low resulted in Morrissey’s tally to snap the 1-1 tie. 

Maurice was clearly not a fan of the officiating. His club was nabbed for three minors, while benefiting from just one power-play chance of its own. But he carefully bit his tongue after the game.

“Emotions the right word. There was lots of emotion on our bench. We overcame a number of obstacles,” he said.

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell