Jets show bounce, bottle Lightning

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This article was published 03/01/2017 (3174 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TAMPA BAY — The Winnipeg Jets needed a win, not only to improve their spot in the Western Conference standings, which prior to Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lighting was three points shy of a playoff spot, but to inject some life into a team that had hit another tough slide in a season that has had a few too many.

The Jets had climbed back to .500 with a four-wins-in-five-games stretch in late December, only to drop their last two, losing a pair of homes games last week, including the most recent — and perhaps the most disappointing this season — a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the New York Islanders on New Year’s Eve.

Many wondered how the Jets would respond against the Lightning, and to the pressure that was only getting hotter as the Jets creep near the midway mark of the season.

Instead of succumbing to the bad habits that have plagued them for most of the 2016-17 season, the Jets were able to rally, beating the Lighting 6-4 in the first game of a three game road trip that moves on to Sunrise tonight for a game against the Florida Panthers, before wrapping up with the Buffalo Sabres Saturday afternoon.

“I can’t remember a game in recent history, not just this season, that we had that many ‘A’ chances over the course of the game,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice. “I don’t think the score is going to be flattering to the goaltenders but there was some fantastic saves in that game and we were able to close it out.

“It wasn’t easy. They kept playing, they kept competing, and we held.”

The Jets, who improved to 18-19-3, held a 4-1 edge after two periods but that lead disappeared in the third, with the Bolts making it a one-goal game, 5-4, with 2:31 left in the frame.

Under pressure from a heavy Lightning attack, the Jets would finally get some breathing room thanks to an empty-net goal by Patrik Laine, who scored his 20th of the season — and third point of the night — to make it a 6-4 final.

“I don’t think anybody really lost it too much on the bench,” said Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba, who finished the game with a goal and an assist to give him six points in his last four games. “We were pretty calm and confident even when we were up a couple goals and they came back. We still played the same game and I thought we responded well.”

It was the response not only from the offence, which was sparked by Nikolaj Ehlers, who scored twice, including a penalty-shot goal that regained Winnipeg the lead after the Lightning tied the game at 1-1 early in the second and another that put the Jets up 5-2 after Ondrej Palat opened the scoring for the home side in the third, but from the defence, which bent but didn’t break after Nikita Kucherov scored twice in the third period to start the comeback. The goaltending once again saw Connor Hellebuyck bounce back from a poor performance against the Isles, where he allowed four goals on 15 shots before getting pulled midway through the second period, to make 32 saves for the win.

Hellebuyck is now a perfect 3-0 following the three games this season in which he’s been pulled — a stretch where he’s stopped 85 of 92 shots (.924 save percentage).

“I like to call it the redemption game,” said Hellebuyck, who improved to 14-12-1. “It’s something that you’ve got to have, especially in this league. You can’t let anyone know that they got to you and you’ve got to show that you’re still fighting every night.”

Maurice agreed.

“Maybe that’s the most important thing for a goaltender, to be able to rebound, because those nights, no matter how good you are or how long you’ve played, you’re having those nights in the NHL where it’s just not going for you,” said Maurice, who has been critical of his team’s goaltending recently. “So being able to get yourself right and come back in and see the action that he saw in the first was probably a good thing for him. He didn’t have to sit and wait, he got right to work early.”

That workload included a first period where the Jets were outshot 17-6. They would eventually leave the opening period up 1-0 with a power-play goal from Mark Scheifele, who redirected a Laine pass to beat Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevsky, who was stellar despite allowing five goals on 33 shots, on what was the Jets’ first shot of the game.

Winnipeg would eventually find its footing in a rare second-period outburst. The Jets, who had been outscored 52-25 in the middle period before Tuesday, scored three goals to the Lightning’s one. With the loss, the Lighting fell to 19-16-4.

“A lot of sports is timing and to get those goals at the times we did were big,” said Trouba. “We were able to settle the game down and not allow them to get momentum going.”

Now, the Jets hope they’ll be able to build some momentum of their own.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton