Jets dominate Senators in 5-1 win

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This article was published 20/12/2022 (1035 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets returned to Canada Life Centre for a good time — but not a long time — as they “swept” a rare one-game homestand with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.

Rick Bowness’s crew made this one look relatively easy, showing the overmatched visitors what a solid, structured hockey team looks like and serving up the latest in a growing list of reminders to the rest of the NHL that they are very much for real.

Winnipeg improves to 21-10-1 on the season, while Ottawa, early in its re-building process, falls to 14-16-2. That leaves the Jets No. 1 overall in the Western Conference when it comes to winning percentage, just ahead of the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights.

Not too shabby for a club many pundits predicted would struggle just to compete as a wildcard playoff team this year. Of course, there’s miles to go before we sleep on this NHL season, but the first two months have been the stuff of Stanley Cup dreams.

Here’s how the latest victory went down:

1) If you needed proof that Bowness isn’t going to let his club get too big for their collective britches, check out a few snippets of what he had to say post-game.

“The whole game for me, it’s ridiculous how many unnecessary shots we give up just because of our puck management,” he began.

Wait, didn’t you win by four goals?

“Listen, we love the two points, we needed the win, we got it. We got away with things tonight that we will not get away with on Thursday or Friday (when they play in Boston and Washington),” the veteran coach continued. “We made the most of our opportunities, we got some big saves when we needed them. At times we played very smart, and at times we played very loose.”

Bowness continues to be a breath of fresh air around here, and his honesty is appreciated by his players.

2) It’s always great when your fourth line can chip in with a goal. It’s even better when it comes on their first shift of the game, 1:58 into the opening period.

That’s exactly what Kevin Stenlund, with a little help from David Gustafsson and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, did. Stenlund scored his first with the Jets, and the 12th goal of his NHL career, off a play in which he batted a puck out of mid-air behind Ottawa goalie Cam Talbot.

“I want to contribute and help the team win. So it was a nice feeling,” said Stenlund.

For a Winnipeg club coming off a loss in Seattle where they ran out of gas as the game went on, it was exactly the kind of jump-start they were looking for, and it came from a trio of Swedish players recently put together by Bowness in an attempt to find a little more offence from his bottom-six.

“That fourth line needed a boost and he’s given it that boost,” Bowness said of Stenlund, who has now played five games since being called up from the Manitoba Moose. “He’s a good player, a smart player and we’re seeing things now that we didn’t see in training camp. So, compliment to him and I give Mark Morrison and his (Moose) staff a lot of credit for getting him turned around and coming up here and doing a good job for us.”

3) They’re going streaking!

Josh Morrissey and Kyle Connor didn’t take long to turn nine-game point streaks into 10-gamers, with the latter helping to set up the former for the 2-0 goal 6:58 into the game.

Morrissey’s sixth was also his 37th point, which matched his career-high he set last season — in 79 games. The fact he did it this year, just a few minutes into Game 32, is remarkable.

The man now known to many fans as “Norrissey” is certainly staking a claim for the year-end trophy as best NHL defenceman. Only San Jose’s Erik Karlsson has put up more offence from the defence.

“Josh has that ability with his hockey IQ. He’s one step ahead of what’s going to happen next,” said Bowness. “That’s why he’s able to read the play, break up plays, get there first, his gaps, all those things, it’s his ability to stay one step ahead. Any elite player in any sport has that high IQ for that sport, and he certainly has it.”

4) Sam Gagner skated in his 996th career game on Tuesday, and it was a good one for the 33-year-old. Not only did he set a perfect screen on Morrissey’s goal, but he restored Winnipeg’s two-goal advantage with 13 seconds left in the first period.

Drake Batherson had cut the lead to 2-1 with a power play goal at 8:28, and the Senators seemed to be coming on, but Gagner found a seam and snapped a bit of a floater past Talbot for his sixth of the year.

“You play that long in the league, and you’ve got to do the little things right. That’s what keeps him around,” said Bowness. “It’s also his off-ice [abilities] in the room. His leadership. His work ethic. All those little intangibles that a veteran like him has to adjust to.”

5) Winnipeg carried that momentum into the second period and quickly put this one to bed. First up was Morrissey making a perfect slap-pass to Connor, who had a wide-open net to score his 14th 62 seconds into the period.

That point established a new career-best for Norrissey, er, Morrissey. Did we mention this is just Game 32?

Connor then struck again at 14:23 of the second, this time with Pierre-Luc Dubois feeding him a nifty backhand pass.

Don’t look now, but after a slow (and very unlucky) start, Connor is getting closer to being on pace for something in the range of the 47 goals he scored last year. That was all she wrote, with 14,277 in attendance doing the wave and coming up with various chants and cheers during an otherwise uneventful third period.

“Every team says you don’t want to lose two in a row and cut those off at one. I thought Seattle (3-2 loss on Sunday) was a function of fatigue. I thought we responded well tonight,” said Morrissey.

6) Last, but certainly not least, was the solid play of David Rittich, who got a second straight start with Connor Hellebuyck in sick bay.

He stopped 35 of 36 shots to improve to 5-3-0 this year. Moose goalie Arvid Holm served as the backup.

“We all wish Bucky could be here with us. He’s probably one of the biggest parts of this team and he’s having a really good season. So, obviously it’s not a great thing we not having him here, but it feels good to have two starts in a row and get a win,” said Rittich.

Hellebuyck will travel with the club as they head east for back-to-back road games to finish out the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg