Sniper Seguin sinks Jets, again

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This article was published 25/10/2016 (3259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DALLAS — Tyler Seguin has finished the Winnipeg Jets off before so it came as little surprise when he dealt them a death blow again in the third period Tuesday night.

Corraling the puck near the hashmarks in a tense, one-goal game, the all-star Dallas centre rifled a shot over the blocker of Winnipeg Jets goaltender Michael Hutchinson to give the Stars a 3-1 lead at 7:27.

The goal, which stood up as the game winner in the Stars 3-2 victory before 18,040 fans (492 short of a sellout) at American Airlines Center, was one Hutchinson desperatedly wanted back.

“The Seguin goal, I was just reading, he had pressure coming to the net, so he had a bunch of options,” said Hutchinson, who made 23 saves. “He ended up making a perfect shot. He didn’t have a ton of room there. Blocker side, I didn’t raise my shoulder up a bit and he somehow managed to get it just above there. He made a good shot, but at the same time, it’s disappointing. I’d like to make that save.”

 

Terrific trio

It was a particularly effective night for the Jets trio of Joel Armia, Shawn Matthias and Adam Lowry. 

Matthias was denied twice on glorious chances by Stars goalie Antti Niemi in the first period — the first coming after Armia’s superb cross-ice saucer pass four minutes into the game.

Armia was back at it midway through the second period, making himself a nuisance with a clever wraparound effort — only to be stopped by Niemi again.

The 24-year-old Finn had better luck with five seconds left in the second period, stripping Niemi, who made an ill-advised play on the puck behind the goal, and made no mistake with the wraparound to pull the Jets to within 2-1.

Niemi finished with 28 saves.

“I think we played really good,” said Armia. “We battled hard and had a good forecheck and I got those chances by good forecheck. Today just wasn’t our day.” 

In the third period, Seguin’s snipe was followed by a Mark Scheifele goal with 10 seconds left in the third and after the Jets had pulled their goalie for the sixth time in as many games.

Armia was Winnipeg’s best player and his line was the club’s most dangerous.

“That whole line going back two games has been really, really strong in the offensive zone,” said Maurice. “Joel was moving his feet with the puck and when he does that, boy he creates some things, knocked a bunch of stuff down. They’ve been very good since they went together. Adam Lowry’s skating, Sean and he get in on body, gets in on forecheck. (I) really like that line.”

 

Under review

The Jets felt a power-play goal scored by Patrick Eaves with a scrum in front of Hutchinson was tainted. But their complaint, although the play was reviewed, fell on deaf ears.

“That’s one that definitely puzzles me,” said Hutchinson. “They push our defenceman right on top of me and it’s a bang-bang play. It wasn’t like our guy laid on top to kind of try and milk it. He was doing what he could to try and get up, but it happened so fast. Personally, I don’t know why it wasn’t goalie interference. I thought that was right within the rules, but unfortunately we didn’t get that call.”

Added Maurice: “They felt that (Jets defenceman) Josh Morrissey attempted to grab his stick and pull the defenceman on top of himself and the goalie.”

Brett Ritchie had given the hosts a 1-0 first-period lead.

Getting to know you

The Stars and Jets meet again in Winnipeg Thursday (7 p.m., TSN3, TSN1290) and again at the MTS Centre on Nov. 8.

Both head coaches like the heat the back-to-back battles of Central Division rivals generates.

“I like the back to back,” said Stars boss Lindy Ruff. “I like playing the same opponent within a short period. It builds a little bit of emotion inside games. There’s usually something that will carry over  from game to game. Seeing adjustments from coaches, the players. I think in this league sometimes you only play one team in January for the first time. When you play an opponent several times, it builds a little emotions inside the games.”

Maurice was also enthusiastic. He thinks it’s good for hockey.

“I like ’em an awful lot,” said Maurice. “I think you get a little more room to work on adjustments that you’d make instead of bouncing around a lot. You can work on themes with the team and I think the rivalries get built a little stronger as well.”

Stafford out

Veteran Jets right-winger Drew Stafford left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return.

“I’ll have a better idea tomorrow for you,” said Maurice about Stafford’s status.

Noteworthy

The Jets play a staggering 15 games over the next 27 days, including nine dates on the road… Winnipeg entered Tuesday’s game with two goals in 20 power-play chances (10 per cent), good for 25th in the NHL. Winnipeg went 1-for-4 on the power play Tuesday and killed off four of five Dallas power plays. The Jets’ penalty killers were ranked 29th in the league after going 11-for-16 (68.8 per cent) through their first five games… Former Jet blue-liner Johnny Oduya has no problem getting motivated to play an old team. “It’s always fun to play against (the Jets),” said Oduya, who played 63 games with Winnipeg before being dealt at the trade deadline in 2012. “There’s still a few guys left, not as many. It’s the same when we go to Chicago or New Jersey… It’s always a little bit of a pick-me-up game when you do face familiar faces.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14