Short-staffed Jets bail hard in gritty win

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This article was published 23/11/2019 (2116 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It seemed almost fitting the hockey gods cut the Winnipeg Jets a monumental break after so much calamity at the downtown barn Saturday night.

Workhorse winger Andrew Copp’s fourth goal of the season, coming with just 1:54 left in the third period, elevated a depleted Jets lineup to an improbable 4-3 victory over the surging Columbus Blue Jackets at Bell MTS Place.

The winning tally was anything but a work of art. Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins was all shook up after his clearing attempt up the middle was gloved down by Copp, whose quick shot clipped blue-liner David Savard and skipped into the net.

The Jets played a crucial chunk of the game with just four defencemen. Josh Morrissey (lower body) went down the tunnel and did not return with 8:06 left in the second frame and Columbus up 3-2, and then Nathan Beaulieu (upper body) followed him with just 3:57 left in the period. Then, midway through the third, starting goalie Laurent Brossoit cramped up and had to leave the game.

The defensive duo of Neal Pionk and Dmitry Kulikov remained intact, but Tucker Poolman and Luca Sbisa were strung together out of necessity. The surviving blue-liners did a sensational job in the final period to limit the visitors to just six shots in a tied game.

Jets captain Blake Wheeler, who scored in the first period and earned his 600th point with the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise on the set-up of Nikolaj Ehlers’ team-leading 11th in the second, was astonished by the work of the four D-men who made it through unscathed.

“They did an amazing job and, honestly, it didn’t look like they were gasping for air, it didn’t look like they were treading water. They were still making plays, still going back for pucks hard,” he said. “As forwards, defensively, we were just trying to really be patient and stop on every puck and just try to battle every puck out for them, give them outlets so they could make easy plays. But those guys did an amazing job. Those guys earned a couple of beers (Saturday), for sure.”

Pionk led all Winnipeg skaters with 24:51 of ice time, while Kulikov was right behind at 22:55. Poolman and Sbisa both eclipsed the 18-minute mark. And Columbus head coach John Tortorella’s squad, which was riding a three-game winning streak, plays a heavy game.

But Sbisa said the Jets refused to crumble, despite the injuries, some major penalty problems and a forgettable night for the penalty-killing unit as the Blue Jackets struck three times with the man advantage.

“One guy goes down, then two guys go down. It’s not something you see happen too often. All of a sudden, there’s plenty of room on the bench, but you don’t get to sit on it too long,” Sbisa said. “The four of us, we just rallied together and saw it as a challenge. Obviously, there’s a few adjustments you’ve gotta make. You keep (shifts) short for 20 minutes and do whatever it takes.

“We battled. It was one of those games where you come off a road trip, first game at home, I think our energy level wasn’t the highest it’s been, but we battled. We faced a lot of adversity in this game with those calls and the PK and this and that, but we found a way to win.”

Adding to the hard times, Brossoit cramped up with 11:19 to go in the final period after stopping 27 of 30 shots. He was replaced by Connor Hellebuyck, who turned aside the Blue Jackets’ final five drives.

Neither of the defencemen’s issues are considered serious, but Beaulieu’s injury requires further evaluation.

Pierre-Luc Dubois and Wheeler traded first-period goals and then Ehlers scored five minutes into the second. But with Poolman and Sbisa in the box, Seth Jones pulled Columbus even at 2-2 with a blast through Brossoit. The Jets continued the kill but gave up Gustav Nyquist’s goal just 1:17 later.

Mathieu Perreault scored the equalizer, his sixth, with just over five minutes left in the period, spinning and one-timing a feed from Adam Lowry.

Winnipeg (14-9-1) has lost only twice in regulation in its past 11 games. The Blue Jackets fell to 9-9-4.

“What I leave the rink with (Saturday), we know coming into (the game) that it’s not going to be easy. It wasn’t smooth, it wasn’t pretty. But the compete was there and the bench was great. They stayed in the fight and really supported each other,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “We were dragging out there, for sure. We didn’t have a lot of pop. But we played hard. Maybe not perfect, but they’ve played hard.”

Copp said he just threw the puck at the net with no great expectations.

“The way the game went, it was kind of back and forth and you just never really know, especially with two minutes left. You pick off (the puck) and the goalie is scrambling to get back to the net, just try to get one there and luckily enough, it kind of hit off a D-man and slid in,” he said. “Kind of a fortuitous bounce. But with two minutes left, you’ll take them any way you can get them.”

In the hallway down from the visitors dressing room, Tortorella told reporters not to ask him a question about the strange giveaway by his goalie

Then he said, “I’m warning you, I’ll walk.”

The Jets get today off to watch their buddies from the Blue Bombers tangle with the Hamilton Ticats in the 107th Grey Cup in Calgary.

After arriving home early Friday morning from a four-game, nine-day road trip (3W, 1L), Winnipeg heads south this week for matchups with the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday, Anaheim Ducks on Friday and Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

A pair of injured Jets forwards are still a few weeks away from returning to the lineup.

Mason Appleton has been sidelined since he fractured a bone in his foot during a fun game of catch on the Regina football field on the Heritage Classic weekend in late October.

“Probably two more weeks before we look at him getting contact,” Maurice said. Gabriel Bourque (lower body), injured against the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 5, is likely on a similar timeline, he said.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell