Jets knock down Leafs 5-2

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This article was published 13/03/2021 (1638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a near perfect road trip for the Winnipeg Jets, even if it looked far from it at times.

Despite being vastly outplayed for periods, out chanced in games and relying too heavily on stellar goaltending, the Jets strolled through the unfriendly hockey confines of Toronto and picked up five of a possible six points in their three-game miniseries against the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.

The Jets saved their best for last, putting forth arguably their most complete game of the 2021 NHL season with a convincing 5-2 victory Saturday night. The win followed up two airtight affairs, with the Jets winning 4-3 Tuesday, before falling by the same score in overtime Thursday.

What made it even more impressive was the Jets had already played twice on the road, in Montreal, before arriving in Toronto to wrap up the five-game stretch, and were coming off a seemingly demoralizing 7-1 loss to the Canadiens.

“I’m going to package it as the whole trip because what we’re doing here on all of this is learning on the fly. Part of it is the whole experience for us, 11 days, isolated, quarantining,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “We had an incredible defeat on Hockey Night in Canada on the Saturday, 7-1 to Montreal, and then we scratch and claw, find a way to win, the goaltender stands on his head, best game for last in a hard, gritty effort. So, I think we’ve got a really smart hockey team and they learn on the fly. That’s what I’m coming away with. We were really, really good. Happy to be going home.”

Through those first two games, the Leafs dominated the Jets in high-danger scoring chances, 34 to nine. That caused the Jets suspect defensive play to become the main storyline of the week, with Winnipeg acknowledging the issue before promising to fix it.

They certainly delivered, as the Jets shored up play in their own end, enough to limit the Leafs to just three high-danger chances — compared to Winnipeg’s 14 — and a modest 22 shots on net. Maurice also swapped up his top defensive pairing, moving up Dylan DeMelo from the third pairing to play with Josh Morrissey.

“I think we moved as five. We didn’t get ahead of ourselves in the defensive zone. We weren’t trying to get it to a next place. We just stayed in the battle and stayed in the fight. I thought we were a little ahead of the game in our first two,” added Maurice. “We were trying to get stuff going, right? We were trying to generate, and I thought we were really effective at being comfortable in our own end. They’re such a powerful, offensive team, and they have a unique way of controlling the puck that you’re going to spend some time in your end regardless of how well you play. I thought we were there as five and committed to it.”

While they were limiting chances in the defensive zone, the Jets were able to execute on their own opportunities at the other end. Five different players registered a goal, including one each from depth forwards Mason Appleton and Adam Lowry, as well as a pair of third-period power play goals courtesy of Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele that put the game on ice. Paul Stastny also found the back of the net.

Connor Hellebuyck, who is the Jets’ Great Equalizer and proved it again this week, got the night off after facing 77 shots over the first two games, stopping 70. It seemed only fair Laurent Brossoit would have his turn being thrown to the wolves, only for the backup net minder to have a relatively quiet night, even if he was forced to make a few quality saves.

Brossoit ended his evening stopping 20 of 22 shots for the win, which improves his season record to 5-1-0 in six starts. His only two blemishes came in the second period, with goals from Jake Muzzin and William Nylander over a span of 2:09.

“The chances we do give up, we’re so comfortable with both of our goalies. (Brossoit) has done a terrific job when he’s been called upon this year to come in and, not only keep us in the game, but win us some games,” Lowry said. “He made some big saves early on when it was 0-0 and then when the game is tied 2-2, he made some big saves to give us a chance to grab the lead. He was solid all night. He did a real good job of not allowing any second chances or loose pucks around the crease. The ones that did fall, he was able to steer them into the corner. He made it easy for our D or was able to track them down and get a cover on them. You can’t say enough about how well he played.”

The Jets improve to 17-8-2 with the victory, and are now just four points back of the Leafs, who fell to 19-8-2, for first place in the Canadian Division. Winnipeg also has two games in hand on Toronto, which should only add even more intrigue to the top of the division standings.

After the first two games this week saw a combined four goals scored in the first period, it was a tad surprising to watch a scoreless battle play out in the first period in this one. Despite both teams combining for just 14 shots in the opening frame Saturday, with few scoring chances by either side, the night looked to get off to a quick start.

Toronto’s Pierre Engvall fired a shot over Brossoit’s shoulder, causing the water bottle atop the net to fly in the air, giving the home side an early 1-0 edge just 1:28 into the game. The excitement would be short-lived, however, as the Jets challenged the goal.

After a brief review, the goal was overturned because of an illegal hand pass, keeping it a scoreless game.

“The only concerning part about it was how long it took to get to the point that we were sure they were getting to. Then you get that 30 seconds of extreme discomfort that they’re not looking at the same thing that you’re looking at. We were pretty sure that one was clean,” Maurice said.

The best opportunity for either side in the first period would be for the Jets late in the frame, when Andrew Copp took a cross-crease pass from Mason Appleton on a 2-on-1 but was unable to lift the puck high enough over the blocker of Frederik Andersen, who finished with 24 saves.

The second period was certainly a more entertaining frame, with each team finding the back of the net twice.

Appleton added to his breakout season, opening the scoring just 1:41 into the frame with his eighth goal of the season and third goal in the last five games. The 25-year-old drove the net, where he deflected a no-look shot from Lowry off his skate and behind Andersen.

Toronto then answered back with a pair of goals scored just 2:09 apart, including a backbreaking short-handed marker by Muzzin.

Muzzin capitalized following a breakdown by the Jets near the Leafs blue line, taking a feed in the slot on a 3-on-2 before firing it top shelf past Brossoit. It was Toronto’s first short-handed goal of the season and Muzzin’s first short-handed goal in 606 career NHL games.

Nylander made it 2-1 off a nifty play a short time later. Possessing the puck on a 2-on-1, Nylander faked a pass and in one singular motion turned and fired a shot that banked off Brossoit before hitting mesh.

With the momentum favouring Toronto, the Jets evened the score late in the period. Stastny tipped home an innocent looking Mark Scheifele shot, which also touched Blake Wheeler on its path to the net. It was Stastny’s ninth of the season and fifth goal in the month of March.

That set up a third period that had the Jets blank the Leafs 3-0. Lowry made good on a pass in front by Appleton, while Ehlers and Scheifele wired shots past Andersen on the man-advantage.

“I thought it was a great 60 minutes,” Scheifele said. “You know you’re playing against a lot of skilled players so you’ve got to be prepared for that and I think we just kept getting better and better as the game went on.”

The Jets return home and will have a day away from the rink before playing a pair of home games against Montreal.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton