Jets turn tables on Canucks

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/12/2016 (3254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — They’ve been the most effective Winnipeg Jets line for weeks and they rose to the occasion when the club needed them most.

With the Jets trailing the Vancouver Canucks 1-0 at Rogers Arena late in the second period Thursday evening and in serious jeopardy of losing their second straight to the Canucks and heading into the Christmas break with a record three games under .500, the troika of Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine threw the team on their backs.

First, it was Laine scoring the equalizer in the final minute of the second period, beating Canucks netminder Ryan Miller short side with one of those lasers that have become the Finnish rookie’s trademark. It was Laine’s 19th of the season, with assists to Ehlers and Scheifele.

Then it was Ehlers taking over in the third period, scoring the game-winner unassisted just 1:23 into the third period and then adding a power-play marker at 12:24, from Nic Petan and Toby Enstrom, to power the Jets to a critical 4-1 win over a Western Conference opponent that was within two points of Winnipeg in the standings heading into Thursday night.

Bryan Little had the Jets fourth goal, hammering a loose puck past a sprawled Miller at 15:43.

The win was Winnipeg’s third in four games and gives the Jets a 16-17-3 record heading into Christmas.

Make no mistake, there’s still work to be done — lots of it — post-Christmas if this team is going to get back into playoff contention. But they’re better positioned — and have something positive to build on coming out of the break — thanks to this gritty effort.

Michael Hutchinson, making his first appearance in net for the Jets in five games, was solid in the win, turning away 22 of 23 shots.

Upside down world

The Jets finally won a second period this season, but it came only after an abysmal first period, a reverse of this team’s pattern for much of this season.

Winnipeg trailed Vancouver 1-0 heading into the second after a first period that saw the Jets record just two shots for the first 17-plus minutes of the game, despite having two power-plays in the opening frame.

Vancouver got the only goal of the first period on a Mikael Granlund snipe that came after a sloppy giveaway behind the Jets net by defenceman Jacob Trouba.

But a Jets team that had been outscored 48-23 in the second period this season won this middle frame 1-0, getting rewarded for a solid period of work with Laine’s goal with just 43 seconds remaining in the period to send the game to the third tied 1-1 and set the stage for Ehlers heroics.

Armia, Matthias in; Copp, Tanev out

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said it was simply because it was time for the two men to come back, but you had to wonder if the long-awaited return of Shawn Matthias and Joel Armia to the Jets lineup Thursday night — with a Christmas break looming — was perhaps also at least in part testimony to just how urgent the team felt this game really was.

Both men missed the better part of seven weeks of action with lower body injuries sustained at the start of November and their returns had been eagerly anticipated because, along with Adam Lowry, they were part of arguably the most effective Jets line when they went down.

That line combination was reunited Thursday evening but the troika was held off the scoresheet.

With Armia and Matthias returning, Brandon Tanev and Andrew Copp watched Thursday night from the press box.

Maurice said earlier in the day that Tanev “got nicked up” late in a 4-1 loss to Vancouver here Tuesday evening, while Copp was a healthy scratch.

The Jets have 25 men on their roster with the additions of Armia and Matthias and will need to make some moves to accommodate them when the Christmas roster freeze ends on Dec. 28.

Up next

The Jets are now off for a four-day Christmas break. They return to the ice on Dec. 27, when they will face the Blackhawks in Chicago.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek