Jets take care of business, take down Ducks 3-2

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This article was published 24/03/2023 (945 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It certainly wasn’t the free spot on the bingo card that it could have — and maybe should have — been, but the Winnipeg Jets held on long enough to start their crucial road trip on a positive note.

The Jets handled business Thursday night to open up a three-game California swing, defeating the Ducks 3-2 in Anaheim. It’s just the third time since the All-Star break Winnipeg has sewn together consecutive victories.

The win adds two huge points to the club’s bid for a spot in the Western Conference playoffs with nine games remaining on the fading 2022-23 NHL regular season.

Fans who stayed up late were treated to one of the more encouraging offensive outings the club has produced recently. Despite potting just three goals, the Jets outshot the hosts 33-20 while dominating in the scoring-chance department as well as offensive-zone time.

Mason Appleton, Kyle Connor and Adam Lowry, with the game winner, scored for the Jets, who improved to 41-29-3.

Cam Fowler and Frank Vatrano replied for Anaheim (23-29-10), now on a three-game losing streak.

Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck posted his 32nd win of the campaign on the strength of an 18-save performance. Ducks’ 22-year-old rookie netminder Lukas Dostal made his 12th career start and performed well for the most part, making 30 saves.

“I thought that was one of our most complete games in a while, a really good 60 minutes,” said head coach Rick Bowness. “We were putting a lot of pucks on the net, so we were creating a lot of offence.

“It was a good, solid 60-minute effort from everybody. All four lines were contributing. Great to see that third line chip in a couple of goals. Good for Adam and the defence were good at moving the puck. We’re very happy with the way we played.”

Let’s peel this one back, shall we?

1. Much has been made of the Jets’ inability to score first. The bigger concern, voiced by Bowness this week, has been the team’s response after conceding the first tally. The Jets had drawn first blood just three times in the previous 15 games entering Thursday, often chasing the game while failing to generate much in the way of offensive production.

The Jets had their share of opportunities to strike first in an opening frame that had long stretches in the Ducks’ zone while owning a lopsided 16-6 shot advantage. Yet, it was the Ducks who punched first via a shot by Fowler from the point. There wasn’t much Hellebuyck could do, as a mass of bodies shielded him from tracking the puck.

But on this night, the Jets were quick with a reply. Just 45 seconds later, a sprawling Appleton got a greasy one to go in off a rush led by Lowry and Dylan DeMelo. The Jets erupted in unity, as they found themselves right back in it.

“That’s our group,” Connor said. “We’re a resilient type. No matter what we face, we have the confidence in here and in each other that we’ll get out of it and it’s going to make us stronger, especially coming down to the playoffs.

“You’re not going to win every game. So you have to deal with those situations when they happen. It’s no quit in here from everybody.”

2. Ring the bells. Connor scored a goal. The sniper has headlined a cluster of Jets’ forwards that has failed to find the back of the net during the team’s recent struggles. Connor had been ailing through an 11-game drought but it ended at the 13:45 mark of the second period, however, when he picked up a rebound off a shot from Pierre-Luc Dubois and tapped the puck into a yawning cage to register his 28th goal of the season.

His reaction said it all. Typically as stoic as they come, Connor looked skyward and shared a relieved smile with his teammates as they surrounded him.

“He’s had so many chances lately and he had that breakaway in the first period,” Bowness said. “He’s a pure goal-scorer, a great player. He knows it is only a matter of time the puck is going to go in for him.

“It’s great to see us finally put that in. That’s what happens when you go to the net, good things will happen.”

It was shaping up to be a breakthrough game for Connor from the get-go. He was all over the puck in the first period, and even had a breakaway in the opening frame. The Jets’ sniper lost control of the puck as he was nearing the net, though, and the puck softly rolled into Dostal’s pads.

Lowry is one who has found his goal-scoring touch as of late and continued to be a bright spot for the Jets on Thursday. The powerful centre won positioning in front of the net before deflecting a shot-pass from Brendan Dillon halfway through the third period.

It was a big goal in more ways than one for Lowry, who added an assist on the game. His 11th marker of the season was the 200th point of his career, third tally in his last four games and proved to be the difference for the Jets.

Lowry credited Vladislav Namestnikov for his heady play in the defensive zone that led to a clean breakout.

“To create offence kind of starting in your own end, and to not cheat at all. We were all kind of under the puck and I’m kind of coming up from the crease area. We’re jumping up in the rush and he makes such a great play,” said Lowry. “Sometimes, you just whack it out, and he’s got the poise to hold onto it and protect it, move it in the neutral zone rather than just sending it out and having them come right back at us.

“We were able to get some sustained zone time and ultimately that goal.”

3. Let’s talk about special teams some more, why don’t we? Along with the club’s slumping stars, the Jets’ ineptitude on the power play has been the hottest topic of conversation in recent weeks. Much of that continued on Thursday, the Jets going 0-for-2 with the man advantage.

A bright spot, however, has been the other half of the special teams. After a rough start to the month (14-for-20), the Jets penalty kill had quietly been a perfect 15-for-15 over the previous six games.

The Ducks ended the unit’s reign on a howitzer from Vatrano in the third period, but Winnipeg has something to hang its hat on as it tries to get hot ahead of the playoffs.

4. With two points, the Jets improved their standing in the Western Conference playoff race. The club holds the final wild-card playoff spot, one point behind the Seattle Kraken, who lost in a shootout to the Nashville Predators on Thursday, for the first wild-card seed.

Speaking of the Predators, their win vaulted them over the Calgary Flames for ninth place in the Western Conference, five points behind the Jets. Nashville owns three games in hand, however. Meanwhile, the Flames, though still in it, are struggling to ignite these days. Calgary is six points back of the Jets for the final playoff spot.

Lowry said the squad is doing its best to mind its own business during crunch time.

“I think it’s no secret we know where we’re at and how critical these wins are. We can only control how we play. We can’t control the other teams chasing us and the teams we’re chasing,” he said. “So, we look at every game as an important one and that was no different (Thursday). I think we’re going to try to carry this momentum to our game Saturday.”

The Jets are back in action Saturday against the L.A. Kings, with a 3 p.m. puck drop. They’ll conclude their three-game trip in San Jose against the Sharks on Tuesday.

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam