Jets Sen-sational in Ottawa

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This article was published 19/02/2017 (3510 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – After watching the Winnipeg Jets recent stretch of games, it’s hard not to wonder where they would be had they figured out what they know now a lot sooner.

Nearing the end of a four-game road trip against some tough Eastern Conference opponents, the Jets have played arguably their best hockey of the year.

By executing a gutsy and hard-nosed style of play – the kind similar to that of two seasons ago when they willed their way through injury and into the playoffs – Winnipeg has earned five of a possible six points away from home this week, including a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre Sunday night.

“It’s a long season and sometimes you get away from the good things you used to do and you start struggling,” said Jets forward Mathieu Perreault. “So you sit down and start asking questions of yourselves: What can we do better? What’s going on? What’s wrong? And sometimes you can’t find out.”

Perreault continued: “Two years ago, when we made the playoffs we were a physical team, and that’s kind of how we got into the playoffs. If we want to have any chance we have to go back to that, and now it’s working.”

Sunday’s victory completed a two-game sweep over the weekend, one that began with a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Winnipeg opened the trip in Pittsburgh with a 4-3 overtime loss to the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins.

With their record now at 28-29-5, the Jets’ 61 points are just one shy of the Calgary Flames for the final wild card spot in the West (the L.A. Kings, with 60 points, were still in action Sunday night). Each of those teams still has at least three games in hand.

It’s a hole the Jets have dug themselves into this season, and now they’re looking to climb out.

Against Pittsburgh, the Jets recorded 49 hits, just one better than the 48 they delivered to the Canadiens. On Sunday, they regressed to 38, but it was reflection on how much more they possessed the puck, rather than how hard they played.

“We’re coming together pretty good here,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler. “We have four lines playing the same way and there seems to be different guys contributing every night, and that’s what you need to win games.

“We’re hard on the puck, first and foremost, both on the forecheck and coming back into our zone,” he added. “We’ve made it difficult for teams to break out against us and generate a whole lot of speed coming into our zone.”

Head coach Paul Maurice was asked if he had an explanation for why the Jets hadn’t been able to commit to the kind of play seen of late, even just the week before when they lost four straight, three of which came on home ice.

“We played so much better than I think people understood in November. We played very, very hard, but at the same time this is the development portion,” said the coach. “It’s not an easy game to play and it’s a pretty major change… there’s about 10 guys that weren’t here two years, so there’s a big changeover, lots of young guys, and now is an excellent time for it.”

Playing in their third game in four nights, it helped that the Jets were able to get off to a strong start Sunday. When defenceman Dustin Byfuglien scored just 69 seconds into the first period, Winnipeg was able to settle into their game. Byfuglien’s ninth of the season extended his point streak to three games, which included an assist on Perreault’s game-winning goal over the Canadiens.

Perreault was back at it again a mere 24 hours later, doubling the Jets’ lead on Ottawa just past the midway mark of the opening period. Scheifele made a deft pass through two defencemen, and, with time alone in front and his back to the net, Perreault quickly drove to his left and stuffed the puck past the sprawling pad of Senators goalie Mike Condon.

The goal capped off what was an impressive night for the Perreault-Mark Scheifele-Patrik Laine trio, who combined for five points on the night.

Scheifele’s two assists bring him to 60 points on the year – one shy of his career high of 61 he set last season – while Laine’s two helpers extended his lead in the rookie scoring race with 52 points in 54 games.

“(Scheifele) and Patty have something going on there,” said Maurice. “Patty can get the puck back into the middle to Mark, and Mark and he have a real good timing up the ice. Matty Perreault is just so much energy, and he has his confidence back. He’s on the puck. He plays like a guy twice his size and they need that, they need that intensity on the puck.

“They looked good, they looked fast and they had good hands going tonight.”

Mark Stone would cut the Jets lead to 2-1 with a power-play goal minutes into the second period. Stone, a native of Winnipeg, was hovering in the high slot on an odd-man rush when he took a pass from captain Erik Karlsson before ripping a shot past the glove of Connor Hellebuyck.

Playing strong on back-to-back starts on back-to-back days, Hellebuyck, too, appears to have found his groove. He’d let in one more that cut the Jets lead to 3-2 after a goal from rookie defencemen Josh Morrissey, but it hardly seemed worry of fault as the puck deflected in the net off the skate of Senators forward Zack Smith.

The Jets would endure one final scare with just seconds remaining on the clock. With a melee in front of the Jets’ net, Ottawa appeared to poke the puck through the pad of Hellebuyck. The play continued on, and when time ran out, a review upheld the no-goal call due to inconclusive evidence as to whether the puck crossed the line.

“That was guaranteed out,” said Hellebuyck. “My pad was there and he pushed my pad in and I got my glove right behind it. I’m kind of confused as to why the crowd was getting into it.”

The Jets have the chance to put a stamp on their successful run on the road when they travel to Toronto for a game against the Maple Leafs Tuesday night. It also offers the opportunity to head out on their five-day break with the kind of positive feelings they’ve gained all week. More importantly, though, two more big points are on the line.

“We’ve got to string as many together as we can. It’s not about how, it’s about how many you can put together,” said Wheeler. “We’ve found our game here going into the break, so we’ve got a huge one coming up in Toronto.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton