Hutchinson unfazed by Wild’s blinding-fast goal

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This article was published 25/10/2015 (3629 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He was beaten 10 seconds into the game, with the final notes of O Canada just fading from the MTS Centre rafters. But by night’s end, Michael Hutchinson had backstopped his Winnipeg Jets to a mistake-filled ‘W’ that won’t include many — if any — clips on his personal highlight reel.

All that said, the Jets netminder is now 3-0 with a goals-against average of 2.00 and a save percentage of .935 after Sunday’s 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

A Picasso, it was not. But as hockey types will insist, a win is a win is a win — even if it means giving up a 5-1 lead, and even if it means getting scored on 10 seconds into the game, when Justin Fontaine waltzed around Jacob Trouba and beat Hutchinson. It was two points, even if it made the 15,294 in attendance squirm at the start and the finish.

“It’s not the start we were looking for, but those things happen,” said Hutchinson, who kicked out 26 of 30 shots. “They don’t happen too often during the year, but we’re going to have our share of quick goals during the year. We responded amazing. You can do one of two things; forget it real quick and come back out like we did or really let it get to you and then it’s going to be a long night.

“They got pretty lucky goals tonight where the puck bounced their way. It’s one of those things where we were in such good control of the game and were playing so well, I don’t think anybody was nervous when the puck started bouncing their way. We just kept working hard and even when we were (short-handed late in the game), I was still pretty confident we were going to get the two points.”

Maybe so, but that’s definitely a rose-coloured perspective that glosses over what happened near the end of a contest that was hardly a goaltenders clinic.

The Jets were outshot 12-6 in the final period and, with Dustin Byfuglien in the box for an ill-advised boarding penalty with 2:03 left, were down a man as the Wild pulled the goalie and tried to complete the rally. This after Minnesota’s particularly ugly fourth goal, which featured Zach Parise stripping the puck from Trouba behind the net and then banking a shot off Mark Stuart’s skate behind Hutchinson.

“You’ve just got to forget it real quick,” said Hutchinson on how he re-set mentally after that goal. “I’ve been playing goal for so long you’ve got to learn to forget those breaks. It’s one of those things you can look over on video and beat yourself up over the next day or the day after. But during the game you’ve just got to forget it.

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“The only thing that mattered was getting the two points. That’s one thing goaltending in this league can do — you can win some games 2-1 or 1-0. Or 5-4. And at the end of the day, two points is two points.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait