Jets go ka-boom in third period

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This article was published 29/09/2015 (3638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There was the more-than-decent start against Edmonton, but the rest of the Winnipeg Jets’ pre-season had been near forgettable until Tuesday’s third period.

That’s when the Jets suddenly perked to life, scoring three goals to climb out of a 3-0 deficit and adding another in three-on-three overtime to edge the Ottawa Senators 4-3 at the MTS Centre.

The crowd of 15,294 had to wait a long time for the home team to get going, but witnessed the first win of the exhibition season. Winnipeg is now 1-2-2.

Mark Scheifele delivered the overtime winner two minutes in as the Jets hogged the puck, twice chopping it back towards goalie Ondrej Pavelec when they had no play.

“It’s a different mentality. In a five-on-five game, you’re not going to be in the offensive zone and throw it all the way back to your goaltender,” Scheifele said, asked about the overtime possession game. “It’ll just take some getting used to.”

The 3-0 hole prompted Jets coach Paul Maurice to switch the top three lines around, again.

“After the second, we weren’t in the spot we wanted to be in,” Scheifele said. “We knew we were doing some good things, but some bad things. Obviously it was a big adjustment in the third, on the puck more and more pressure, and holding onto the puck and getting to the net as well.”

Some backbone

Blake Wheeler, who scored the first goal of the comeback 26 seconds into the third period, said the team decided to bring an edge to the third period.

“The game in Minny (an 8-1 loss on Sunday), regardless of who was out there, that kind of ticked some guys off,” he said.

Wheeler also got into a scrap with Ottawa’s Bobby Ryan with 6:17 left.

OT intrigue

Maurice used three forwards — Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and Matthieu Perreault, to deliver the winning play in the extra period. It was a rush by Scheifele, sent flying by a Perreault pass.

The coach said the possession game is going to be key.

“You’re going to see that,” he said. “I thought we could have done it twice more. And I also think our goaltender can be up close to the blue-line just prior to the goal. If your goaltender can hold that change, if the puck gets bumped back like that, he has the right to the red line.

“If you can get it on his tape, it’s going to be a tough change.”

Debuts rust-filled

Tuesday marked the first pre-season action for captain Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little, Paul Postma and Tyler Myers.

Ladd tipped in the tying goal with 50.9 seconds left in the third after being reunited with Little and Wheeler for the period.

“It probably didn’t help that it was our first action,” Ladd said. “Our game speed just wasn’t quite there the first couple periods.

“We’ll get that first one out of the way and go from there. But I like how we stuck with it and found a way to battle back into it.”

The line switch was fine with him.

“Sometimes it definitely sends a message or gives you spark, but I think everyone knows us three like to play with each other,” he said, having started the game with Alex Burmistrov on the line.

Work to do

If anyone figured the third period and overtime would absolve the shoddy play that preceded it, including in earlier games, Maurice isn’t forgetting.

“There was enough good in the third period to be able to offset (some of the bad start),” the coach said. “We’re at our best when we’re playing right on the edge on the puck and really battling and competing.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca