Big-league goal a boost for Shaw

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This article was published 15/12/2019 (2095 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Logan Shaw impersonated an NHL sniper Sunday afternoon, a role he’s unaccustomed to playing.

The fourth-liner unleashed a wicked shot that clanked the top bar inside the cage behind goalie Brian Elliott and ricocheted out in a fraction of a second, boosting the Winnipeg Jets’ lead to 5-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Goals in the big league are few and far between for the 27-year-old from Glace Bay, N.S., who has just 13 in 199 contests since he broke in with the Florida Panthers during the 2015-16 campaign.

Shaw last scored in the NHL on Feb. 8, 2018, while playing for the Montreal Canadiens. He managed to beat Elliott that night, too.

Naturally, a payoff for his rapid release was mighty satisfying.

“Yeah, that was a long time ago,” Shaw said smiling, referring to the stat he picked up 21 months and 41 games ago. “It definitely felt good to get that one (Sunday). For us, as a line, we’ve been trying to work hard each and every day. That’s definitely just a bonus for us right now, and it felt good.”

Shaw plays on the right side of centre Nick Shore, while Gabriel Bourque mans the left side. Jets head coach Paul Maurice was afforded the opportunity to send out the unit more than usual after the home squad built a 2-0 lead on the Flyers after the opening period.

When Mathieu Perreault was felled by a thunderous, illegal hit by Joel Farabee, Maurice rotated the bottom-three forwards in with Adam Lowry and Andrew Copp. And their minutes shot up with the home team enjoying a commanding advantage by the time the third period rolled around.

“It’s tough to get that rotation going when somebody goes down, but I think coach did a great job with it. We all want play. We all want to get out on the ice, but sometimes it’s tough when you’re sitting on the bench for a little bit. He got us out there as much as he could, and it was great,” Shaw said, on the increased playing time.

Shaw — 6-3, 208 pounds, a former third-round pick of the Panthers who has also played in Anaheim and Montreal — inked a one-year, two-way deal with Winnipeg last November and immediately became one of the offensive drivers of the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, scoring a team-leading 27 times in 63 games.

He re-signed with the Jets in the summer and lit the lamp three times in Manitoba’s first eight games of the 2019-20 season before getting a promotion in late October.

Shaw said showing some offensive flash last season and performing in key situations for Moose coach Pascal Vincent bolstered his belief in himself.

“Confidence is one of the biggest parts of the the game, I think, to going in the right direction. Last year, it brought my confidence back,” he said. “There’s a different side of it where you don’t necessarily want to be in the American (Hockey) League, but there’s a positive to it, and you have to find the reason you’re down there and keep working on it and make sure you get back up here. It’s sometimes just about staying patient.

“It felt really good tonight to score. I know it was the fifth goal, but for me, individually, it was a little weight off my shoulder and just kind of, ‘I can still do it.’ That’s kind of what last year was for me with the Moose, knowing I can still score goals. They don’t come very often up here, but they feel good when they do.”

The union of Shore, Shaw and Bourque provides Winnipeg with some veteran savvy, patience and know-how, far more than when youngsters David Gustafsson and Joona Luoto were part of the mix.

Rarely did Maurice turn to the fourth unit in tight games, but now the bench boss maintains he can.

“With Nick there and those two guys, I can play them. In the last game and the one prior, they had two or three shifts against (Dylan) Larkins line (for Detroit), and I’m not particularly worried about it. I’m not hiding them,” he said.

“They gotta score once in a while just to feel good. Since we brought Nick in, they’re getting more opportunities in the offensive zone. There’s more plays. They need that. They need to score, they need to feel like they’re a part of it. There’s not a lot of minutes there… (and) veteran guys there that understand. They can sit for a while and come out. It’s nice for those guys to get a payoff. (Shaw) got a good shot. He’s had that. That was a high-end shot he scored on.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell