Not Brossoit’s finest hour

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This article was published 23/12/2019 (2132 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG back-up goalie Laurent Brossoit hasn’t exactly provided head coach Paul Maurice with a solid case for additional work this season.

His performance Monday night in a 6-2 defeat to Montreal, his ninth start, didn’t help his cause.

Brossoit tumbled awkwardly while sliding across his crease, made a wild stab with his glove, but couldn’t snare Tomas Tatar’s shot in the first period. Later, his giveaway led directly to a Canadiens’ goal by Phillip Danault early in the second period and put the Jets down 3-1. Then, about four minutes later, he let Danault’s shovel shot bounce right past him just seconds after a faceoff.

Brossoit, who plays every seven to 10 days, finished with 42 saves by the time the final horn sounded, but it wasn’t a memorable night for the man responsible for providing critical fill-in duty on rare nights off for Connor Hellebuyck. He’s 4-4-0 with a 3.51 goals-against average and .888 save percentage, although he’s been hampered by some poor nights by his teammates.

That’s a far cry from last season when he was, unquestionably, one of the bright spots for Winnipeg, despite coming over from the Edmonton Oilers with an NHL future anything but guaranteed. He was 10-2-0 to begin his time with the Jets, finishing with a 19-13-6 record, a 2.42 GAA and .925 save percentage.

There’s no saying when Brossoit will get his next assignment from Maurice, as the Jets take three days off for the holiday season before facing the St. Louis Blues in a home-and-home series, and the Colorado Avalanche on New Year’s Eve.

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Nathan Beaulieu took diving to a new level Monday night.

Give the Jets defenceman perfect marks as he lunged head-first over the boards and onto his teammates’ laps to avoid taking a too-many-men penalty.

Beaulieu went full-out Superman with Montreal comfortably ahead 4-1, midway through the second period. The Jets had just survived a short-handed situation after playing several seconds with six skaters on the ice, and he went over and above, literally, to ensure it didn’t happen again.

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Patrik Laine had a goal erased at 9:02 of the first period on a coach’s offside challenge, the second time it’s happened this month.

The Jets right-winger put the finishing touches on a brilliant three-way passing play by linemates Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, ripping the puck past Habs goalie Carey Price to the short side. But the video evidence was crystal clear, showing Laine had crossed the blue line ahead of the puck earlier in the sequence.

Back on Dec. 3, just 13 seconds after the opening faceoff against visiting Dallas, Laine fired a wrist shot from the slot behind Stars goalie Anton Khudobin. However, Scheifele was a little too eager entering the offensive zone. The Jets went on to a 5-1 triumph.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell