Explosion of goals destroys Devils

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This article was published 18/11/2017 (2858 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It might go down as the most explosive 95 seconds of the season.

Locked in a tight-checking battle with one of the league’s elite teams, the Winnipeg Jets suddenly broke it open Saturday and left the New Jersey Devils in their dust. Five goals in the second period — including three in rapid “blink and you’ll miss them” succession — propelled them to a 5-2 victory. It’s the club’s fourth in a row, including all three this week at Bell MTS Place.

“We don’t sit back at all. We continue playing our game, stay all over them. Every line. We get it rolling and everyone is doing the right things and staying on them. That kind of grinds a team down,” said goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced.

The Jets are now 12-4-3, which represents the best shape they’ve been in at this point in the season since moving to Winnipeg.

They’ve shown the ability to win a number of different ways, with a quick-strike offence just the latest weapon in their arsenal.

“It was a tight game and there wasn’t really much there, but I don’t think we changed anything. We just kind of trust the game we’ve been playing,” defenceman Jacob Trouba said.

“We know we score goals when the opportunity is there, so no one was really pushing for it or doing anything different. It just kind of happens and that’s how it goes.”

The Devils entered the game with the same record as Winnipeg and started off strong, outshooting the Jets 8-2 through the opening eight minutes of the game. Hellebuyck made several big saves, including one off Taylor Hall to keep the game scoreless. Drew Stafford also whiffed on what appeared to be an open net, while Kyle Palmieri rang one off the crossbar.

Dustin Byfuglien appeared to energize his team with a couple of big hits in the opening frame. He crushed rookie Jesper Bratt on one shift, then took out Hall on the next shift.

“That man changes the game, right? I’m trying to find a different word than impact, based on it sounding like a pun. But his ability to finish plays like that at times will change the attitude of the forwards. There’s a lot better place to go sometimes than in Dustin’s corner, and that affects the game,” head coach Paul Maurice said.

After a scoreless first period, things really opened up in the middle frame.

“The second period especially, we got up to our speed. I think they were a little quicker than we were in the first, and then we were just a bit quicker than they were in the second and that was the difference,” Maurice said.

Kyle Connor got it started at 5:51, knocking in a rebound for his fifth goal of the season. Mark Scheifele had made a beautiful drop pass to captain Blake Wheeler, who fired the initial shot that goalie Cory Schneider kicked out on to the stick of Connor, who went hard to the front of the net.

“Definitely something I was working on, just going to the hard areas and coming up with all those little puck battles that make such a difference,” Connor said.

Brian Gibbons tied it up just over a minute later, ripping a shot that initially appeared to hit the crossbar. But video review showed the puck actually hit the back bar of the net. It’s the team-leading ninth goal of the year for Gibbons, who has spent much of his career toiling in the American Hockey League.

Then came the eruption.

Patrik Laine deflected a shot from Nikolaj Ehlers just over a minute after Gibbons tied the game. It’s the 10th of the season for Laine, who now has points in eight straight games (six goals, three assists).

Trouba made it 3-1 just 35 seconds after Laine’s goal, as his big blast beat Schneider for his first goal of the season. And then Matt Hendricks extended the lead to 4-1 exactly one minute later, one-timing a feed from Mathieu Perreault for his second of the year.

“That’s the character in this room. We don’t get deterred by a goal against. We get a little bit motivated and then we get our crowd into it and we use that momentum,” Hellebuyck said of the three goals in 95 seconds.

Winnipeg took a pair of penalties, but managed to kill them off, then added to their lead late in the period. This time, Hendricks returned the favour by feeding Perreault, who roofed a shot past Schneider. It’s the second goal in as many games for Perreault since returning to the lineup. Linemate Joel Armia also had a pair of assists, giving the so-called “fourth line” six points in the game.

“There were some great plays out there tonight. We had a good talk (Friday) as a line after practice. We were feeling good coming into tonight and we wanted to start contributing a little bit more. It’s nice to be able to help the team on the scoreboard,” Hendricks said.

“We thought we’ve been playing pretty well. Matty’s first game back he scored a big goal for us, obviously, but we thought we could have brought a little bit more throughout the course of the game. We had some real good spurts and then kind of lacked a little bit. We wanted to have a more consistent game.”

Schneider gave up five goals on 22 shots and was replaced by Keith Kinkaid to start the third period.

Will Butcher brought the Devils a bit closer by scoring his first career goal seven minutes into the final period. Nico Hischier, the No. 1 draft pick in last summer’s NHL draft, drew an assist along with Hall.

Hellebuyck has given up two goals or fewer in 11 of his 14 starts this season. His personal record is now 11-1-2.

“He’s been the backbone for our group this year. We’ve talked from Day 1 that in this league, you’ve got to have (great) goaltending. It helps your team when you’re making mistakes and not playing great hockey, and when you are playing great hockey, you feel you can beat anybody in the league,” Hendricks said.

Defenceman Toby Enstrom was knocked out of the game with a lower-body injury. He got tangled with Bratt during the second period and went down in pain. He had to be helped off the ice and wasn’t putting any pressure on his right leg. Enstrom went straight to the dressing room, but was back on the bench a few minutes later and took a couple of shifts before the period ended.

However, the team ruled him out for the rest of the game to start the third. Maurice said more will be known about his status today.

Winnipeg now hits the road for a four-game trip beginning Monday in Nashville.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @mikemcintyrewpg