Jets win shootout in Buffalo

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This article was published 30/03/2022 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BUFFALO — Blake Wheeler joked that he was channelling his inner Patrick Kane. “Spitting image, right?” he told the Free Press with a smirk. Connor Hellebuyck, on the other hand, was simply being the best version of himself. But there’s no mistaking the fact that clutch contributions from the captain and the keeper played key roles in Winnipeg’s 3-2 shootout victory over Buffalo on Wednesday night.

Wheeler scored once in regulation and then had the decisive tally in the skills competition, showing off some silky-smooth mitts in the process as he deked out Craig Anderson from in tight. Hellebuyck was calm, cool and collected in his crease, swatting away 35 pucks during regulation and overtime and one more pivotal one in the breakaway contest.

The Jets improve to 33-25-10 and have their first three-game winning streak in nearly three months. They are now 11-4-1 in their past 16 games, the best record in the NHL since late February, and pulled within one point of the final Western Conference playoff spot with 14 regular-season games remaining. (A Vegas victory over Seattle later in the night would make that two points).

Despite the favourable result, Winnipeg might be accused of impersonating a contender based on an ugly first period in which they were soundly outplayed, out shot (11-4 on net, 22-6 in attempts) and outscored 1-0 by a Buffalo team that is now 24-33-11. It could have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for Hellebuyck showing up to play while the rest of his teammates apparently thought puck drop was slated for later in the evening at KeyBank Center.

“That’s usually not the winning formula to win games but this team’s resilient and we found a way. I think there’s three periods for a reason,” is how Hellebuyck politely put it in his post-game chat.

Interim coach Dave Lowry, having seen this script play out several times before with his sluggish squad, wasn’t quite as kind.

“Well we’ll talk about that (Thursday). Once again it wasn’t good enough,” said Lowry. “We know that. But I liked the response we had in the second, and I like the end result in the third.”

Wheeler cited the fact his club was playing for a sixth time in 10 nights as a potential cause. “I think we’re still kind of a tired team,” he said. If true, that doesn’t bode well for Winnipeg’s chances as they play their seventh game in 11 against the mighty Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

The mountain got a bit steeper a few hours prior to facing the Sabres as top scorer Kyle Connor, and top-scoring defenceman Nate Schmidt both tested positive for COVID. They will remain behind in Buffalo and won’t be able to rejoin their teammates in Winnipeg until early next week, missing three games in the process.

“It was a bummer. They were really close to getting through the whole year without having to go through it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be and not ideal timing, either,” said Wheeler.

“That’s kind of been the story of our year in terms of COVID and how it has affected our team. I guess, with that, the good news is we’ve dealt with it before and we’ve had to deal with it and never easy to lose two guys, especially two guys of that calibre, so it was definitely a good night for guys to step up.”

After Zemgus Girgensons gave the home team the early lead at 14:39 of the first period, Wheeler tied it at 4:13 of the second when he deflected a Pierre-Luc Dubois puck that was likely going in anyways. Wheeler was a bit sheepish after the game for taking away what would have been the 100th goal of Dubois’ career.

“It was one of those things where I’m kind of in behind the goalie and he dekes and the whole way, I think he’s sliding it to me and our angles kind of converge and it’s going right into the net,” Wheeler said of his 11th of the year. “Instincts take over and, honestly, I was just… my first thought was I could have knocked that out of the net and that would have been horrible. I guess I owe Dubie one. I’ll try and get him an empty-net one of these days.”

Dubois insisted there’s no hard feelings.

“I’m 23, I’m sure I will have time to score that (100th goal),” he said with a chuckle. “I didn’t even know until two games ago that I was at 99. To be honest, it’s not really something I think about.”

Girgensons gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead when he scored at 8:24 of the second period, taking advantage of a Wheeler turnover. But the Jets tied it with 21 seconds before the intermission, as Nikolaj Ehlers made a terrific cross-ice pass to Mason Appleton who ripped a wrist shot past Anderson. It’s the seventh of the season for Appleton, and the first since he re-joined Winnipeg last week after a trade with Seattle. Defenceman Ville Heinola had the other assist, giving him points now in four straight games he’s played.

“That’s what Apple does, right. He’s had some good games since he’s come over. He played his game, he played straight lines. He was in on the forecheck. Nice to see him get rewarded,” said Lowry, who mixed up his lines as he tried to find a spark.

By the third period Ehlers was with Appleton and Adam Lowry, Wheeler and Dubois were skating with Zach Sanford, and Evgeny Svechnikov was with Marl Scheifele and Paul Stastny. Only the fourth line of Jansen Harkins, Dominic Toninato and Adam Brooks remained intact, and they barely saw the ice.

There was no scoring in the third, although both teams had plenty of chances, and that continued into a wild three-on-three overtime session which included Dubois hitting the post, Hellebuyck stopping Tage Thompson on a breakaway, and the Dubois taking a slashing penalty which was killed off by his teammates. Highlights include two big Hellebuyck saves and a massive and very painful shot block by Logan Stanley.

“We did a really good job on the kill. Really good job. Blocked shots, (winning) big faceoffs. The guys did a really good job to give us a chance to finish the overtime three-on-three and to give us a chance in the shootout,” Dubois said of surviving what felt like an eternity in the sin bin.

That set the stage for the shootout, with all three Winnipeg skaters (Dubois, Scheifele and Wheeler) converting. Thompson was stopped by Hellebuyck, while Victor Olofsson and Alex Tuch both scored.

All three victories by the Jets in this current streak have come beyond regulation, after overtime wins last weekend against Columbus and Arizona. Hellebuyck was asked if he’d have the energy to go back-to-back by facing Toronto on Thursday night, but was non-committal.

“I don’t know. All I know is that there’s some chicken wings in the locker room calling my name,” he said.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg