Perreault’s shootout winner lifts Jets over Sens

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This article was published 08/11/2014 (4050 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — That structure stuff is coming along but the Winnipeg Jets got by on their compete on Saturday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

That, according to Jets coach Paul Maurice, was the storyline of his team’s marathon 2-1 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators, extending a streak to 6-0-2 in the last eight games.

“Eighty per cent of the good things that are happening right now, maybe 90 per cent, are still on compete,” Maurice said after forwarrd Mathieu Perreault ended the game with the only goal of the shootout, in the sixth round. “We’ve still got lots of room to get better on our systems and when we don’t have the puck.

“But our fight and our compete — and that’s leadership and that’s the players — has been spectacular.”

Maurice pointed out  his team was playing its ninth game in 16 days — “We were dragging into town,” he said — and though he didn’t mention it to his team, it eventually started to show on Saturday.

“In a tough, tough game, a grinding game, we didn’t have the same kind of speed element and we’re a fast team,” the coach said. “So it took more mental toughness to play in this game than it did against Pittsburgh. We want to go, want to go, and it wasn’t there tonight but to their credit, they didn’t come off what they knew was going to be a tough grinding game. That’s the most fatigued they’ve probably been this season.”

Star saver

The Jets were well ahead in shots on goal in the second period before the fade kicked in a little, but goalie Ondrej Pavelec was there to pick up some slack.

Pavelec got sharper as the night wore on, ending the game with 37 saves and all six in a personal highlight-reel shootout.

“It was a tough game for us after we played a hell of a game at home against Pittsburgh,” Pavelec said of Thursday’s shootout loss. “Now we’ve got another long road trip and that’s a good start.”

The Jets’ No. 1 goalie made a point of saying — again — that he dislikes the shootout.

“I answer the same again and again. I just don’t think it’s fair,” he said. “It’s part of the game but it’s not fair for both goalies and both teams. It was a hell of a battle for both teams, a good game I think, and both teams had some scoring chances and could have been over earlier. We found a way, that’s all that matters.”

Asked if he was any more determined on Saturday’s tie-breaking penalty shots after losing that round on Thursday, he said: “Well, you’re facing Crosby and Maikin, that was the difference.

“Every team’s got great players for the shootout, who can make some plays and make some moves. It’s just 50-50. You go to shootouts and you never know what you’re going to get.”

Road warriors

The Jets are in their most-demanding stretch of schedule for likely their whole season — playing nine of 11 away from home. They are seven games into this run and stand at 5-0-2 so far, so they will have a record above .500 within it no matter the results of the rest of the week.

Winnipeg’s road record early this season is 5-2-1.

Defend the house

The NHL standings show the Jets, at 8-5-2, occupying third spot in the Central Division. That divisional slot is a guaranteed playoff spot.

The charts also show the team with 32 goals against through 15 games, but that’s actually 30 when you toss out shootout “goals,” which brings it to 30 in 15 games, which is two per game, which is a long, long way from the team’s seemingly perennial average of right around three per game.

The Jets have allowed just 10 goals in the play of their last eight games, one big reason why they have a 6-0-2 streak going.

Crack the goose-egg

Jets defenceman Toby Enstrom hit for his first goal of the season on a first-period power play, rattling a shot off both posts and in.

He said he was not thinking about the zero prior to Saturday.

“Not really. It’s always fun to score goals but as long as the team is winning, doing well, I’m happy,” he said. “I was just trying to get it on net. I think it was just Wheels doing a great job in front.”

Enstrom, who plays his 500th NHL game on Tuesday in Montreal, is fourth so far in team scoring with one goal and eight assists.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca