Power play propels Jets past Sharks 2-1

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This article was published 05/01/2024 (641 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This was roughly one month in the making.

For all of the talk about the struggles of the Winnipeg Jets’ top power play unit, which had gone an occasionally agonizingly long time between markers, it was a beautiful play that brought an abrupt end to the drought with the man-advantage.

After some crisp puck movement in the offensive zone on a hooking penalty to Filip Zadina, Nikolaj Ehlers made a seam pass to Gabriel Vilardi for a backdoor tap-in that propelled the Jets to a 2-1 victory on Thursday night at SAP Center.

“Yeah. He just gets it to me. I’ve just got to tap it in. It was a really nice play by him and a big goal for us,” said Vilardi, whose goal was his eighth in 19 games with the Jets this season. “We’ve had plenty of opportunities to come up big and we haven’t. And we know that, obviously we take pride in it and we haven’t been good enough. It’s just that simple so it’s nice to finally score. We were all super fired up. It was huge tonight but we’ve got to keep it going. We’ve got to get the power play going better. Obviously it was a good start and honestly, that last game, we were better too. And it was nice to score tonight for sure.”

Jets head coach Rick Bowness was gushing about the power play when he spoke to reporters after the game and he feels it goes back to Tuesday night even though the power play wasn’t able to convert in the 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“That’s one of the best power plays I’ve seen us have all year. The puck was moving around,” said Bowness. “Again, that power play tonight, that’s the best it’s looked in a long time. And it’s nice that they get rewarded.

“Take one anyway we can get one. But we had a lot of good opportunities before the puck went in.”

Scoring on the power play should allow the Jets to breathe a bit of a sigh of relief, especially when combined with the penalty kill going two-for-two, despite giving up some quality looks.

“I think everybody’s pulling for us to have some success on the special teams. Our PP and our PK we just can’t seem to find it this year,” said Jets defenceman Brenden Dillon. “We’ve had a lot of success on it last year, on both of them, and it won us the game tonight, really.”

The Jets continue a three-game road trip on Friday at Honda Center against the Anaheim Ducks.

Here’s a closer look at what happened on Thursday night:

THE TRAIN KEEPS ROLLING: By opening the road trip with a win, the Jets extend their winning streak to four games, their point streak to 10 games (8-0-2) and they’ve now gone 27 games allowing three goals or fewer.

For those of you keeping track at home, there are only seven times during that stretch where the Jets actually gave up three, meaning 11 times it was two or fewer.

“That’s what it’s going to be like the rest of the year, getting everyone’s A-game,” said Bowness. “We’ve got to find a way to get greasy goals and that first goal was an example of it.

“The team game has been solid. We’re not giving up much. We keep playing like that, we’re going to keep winning our fair share of games.”

Even with the remarkable run, that includes a 12-1-2 stretch since the start of December, the Jets haven’t been able to gain any separation from the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars in the Central Division standings.

“It’s fun. It’s fun to play hockey. It’s fun when you win,” said Vilardi. “Obviously we have belief in each other and play for each other and yeah we have to keep going. Everyone else is winning in the Central so we have to keep winning.”

THE MILESTONE: Jets left-winger Morgan Barron got to the net and notched the equalizer after the Jets had fallen behind 1-0 on an even-strength goal from Sharks winger Alexander Barabanov. It was another fourth-line goal for the trio of Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Dominic Toninato and Barron. Barron scored his eighth goal of the campaign, which tied his career high that he set last season. This time, he’s hit that mark in 38 games after needing 70 games to reach it in 2022-23. Toninato had his four-game point streak snapped, but he had another effective outing. For all of the talk about the Jets’ depth this season, that the fourth line is earning consistent minutes is a testament to their level of play. Barron has been the constant on a fourth line that’s been able to contribute despite the revolving door there.

“It’s easy when it’s good players coming in. It’s not like you’re calling up a guy with no experience or can’t play at this level or whatever it is,” said Barron. “I always know what to expect with the guys. There’s a lot of positive talk with each other on the bench. It’s just been a lot of fun. We’ll continue to do it and whoever is out there, I know will do a great job of working hard at trying to control the game flow.”

PRAISE WHERE PRAISE IS DUE: In discussing the play of the fourth line, Dillon provided a massive compliment and he wasn’t the only one.

“They’ve been fantastic. I think they’re almost like an identity line for us,” said Dillon. “Axel brings his speed, (Barron) makes the right play 99 per cent of the time, and Dom’s been winning faceoffs and getting to the net and using his size, too. I think for all three of those guys we’re really happy to see them all have success. A lot of the time, it doesn’t show up on the scoresheet, but tonight it did.”

“Unreal. They play hard every night. You know what you’re going to get from them and they’ve been playing amazing for the last good bit here,” added Vilardi. “You’re seeing it with the results, a lot of goals coming from them. They’re being reliable in the d-zone and doing everything right. They’re all great players.”

THE LOOK AHEAD: After Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made his 28th start of the season, Bowness confirmed after the game that Laurent Brossoit gets the call on Friday against the Ducks. Brossoit is set to make his 10th start of the campaign and he’s been playing very well of late, posting a record of 5-3-1 while lowering his goals-against average to 2.44 and raising his save percentage to .912.

EXTRA, EXTRA: The Jets went with the same lineup as the past five games, which meant the healthy scratches were defencemen Logan Stanley and Declan Chisholm. David Gustafsson (lower body) remains day-to-day and jumped on the ice for the latter stages of the morning skate along with defenceman Ville Heinola (ankle), forward Rasmus Kupari (shoulder) and left-winger Kyle Connor. Jets defenceman Neal Pionk had a team-high nine shot attempts to go along with his three shots on goal and two hits on Thursday night. Josh Morrissey led the Jets with six shots on goal and he finished with eight shot attempts, which was another good example of the D-men getting involved in the offensive attack.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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