Jets rally in Raleigh

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This article was published 02/03/2024 (579 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RALEIGH, N.C. — There was no paint-stripping speech to rally the troops.

No rah-rah message provided by head coach Rick Bowness or any of the players to help cue the comeback.

Rather than lament the 3-0 hole they had dug themselves in the second period, the Winnipeg Jets simply stuck with it and found a way to rally with five unanswered goals in what turned into an impressive 5-3 NHL victory over the Carolina Hurricanes before 18,876 fans at PNC Arena Saturday afternoon.

“We knew we were playing well; sometimes that happens in hockey,” said Bowness. “Sometimes you’re down and you’re playing poorly. We just talked after the second: we’re fine. Keep doing what we’re doing. We don’t have to make any changes. Give the players full credit. They stayed in the fight.”

By staying in the fight, the Jets found a way to wash away the sour taste from Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars and improve to 38-16-5 on the season.

“I felt that our game was a lot more sort of around our standards and the way we want to play and maybe that’s why we get rewarded in the third period,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey. “Being in the league throughout my career now and seeing different types of years, I mean, the good teams find a way to win even when they don’t have their best stuff. You can’t discount that in a hockey team. And lately, I think that’s something that we’ve been doing.”

Let’s take a closer look at what transpired in this one:

THE PROMOTION PAYS OFF: The Jets swapped Nikolaj Ehlers onto the top line for Vladislav Namestnikov to start the third period and the move paid dividends, with Ehlers finding Kyle Connor for a one-timer. The goal came at 1:36 of the period and opened the floodgates for the most impressive rally of the season so far.

“That was really good,” said Bowness. “Actually, I wanted to do it earlier, halfway through the second, but we kept getting those penalties so I couldn’t get the flow to that.”

Top centre Mark Scheifele was driving throughout, drawing penalties, skating well and making plays all game long before he was rewarded with the tying goal on a backhand.

“Listen, he puts the team on their back there in the third period, him and (Morrissey),” said Bowness. “The guys you rely on to make the difference in the game and Adam (Lowry’s) line was outstanding again. They made a huge difference in that game.”

Connor had a quiet opening two periods and a few uncharacteristic giveaways, but got himself going in the third, finishing with four shots on net to go along with his team-leading 25th goal of the campaign.

THE WINNER: Jets centre Sean Monahan was also heavily involved in this one. Although he wasn’t credited with an assist on the tying goal, he made a nice play to win a board battle with Jordan Staal that allowed Morrissey to keep the puck in before eventually finding Scheifele.

“You’ve got to compete. Second efforts,” said Monahan. “It’s not an easy league. To score in this league, you need that. And obviously, it was a hell of a move by Mark.”

On the winner, Monahan took advantage of Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov wandering too far out of his net, allowing the equivalent of an empty-netter for the Jets’ second-line centre.

Monahan is up to seven goals and eight points in 11 games with the Jets since being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens.

THE HOLE: The Hurricanes got going midway through the second period on a goal from Martin Necas.

Then, after Ehlers ripped a shot off the iron at one end, but the Hurricanes got the puck going the other way and Sebastian Aho found Teuvo Teravainen.

Instead of a tie game, the Jets were down 2-0 shortly thereafter and that’s when the Hurricanes used their power play to extend the lead.

This time it was Andrei Svechnikov providing a perfect pass through the skates of Jets defenceman Neal Pionk for Aho to score a backdoor tap-in with 47.8 seconds to go in the middle frame.

THE CHANGES: The Jets figured to have four game-time decisions but the only player to miss Saturday’s game due to injury was right-winger Gabriel Vilardi, who was out with an upper-body issue after sitting out the final period against the Stars.

Bowness also chose to make Cole Perfetti a healthy scratch for the first time in his NHL career.

With Vilardi unavailable and Perfetti scratched, Gustafsson played centre on the fourth line with Rasmus Kupari and Morgan Barron. For Gustafsson, it was his first NHL game since suffering a lower-body injury on Dec. 22 against the Boston Bruins and he finished with one shot on goal and two hits in 6:25 of ice time.

“I thought Gus was great,” said Morrissey. “It’s kind of one of those games where there was a lot of special teams in the second period and so that fourth line didn’t get a ton opportunity for parts of the game, just for the game flow, but I thought he looked really good.

“He’s such a responsible player, smart player, good in the D-zone, good on faceoffs. And you know, obviously that’s a long time out of the lineup coming into a tough building against a tough team and… I thought he provided a lots of energy and… good detail.”

On defence, Logan Stanley filled in for Brenden Dillon, who was sidelined due to an illness. Stanley took 22 shifts for 14:23 of ice time.

THE UPDATE ON VILARDI: Bowness said that Vilardi has gone back to Winnipeg for further evaluation for the upper-body issue he’s been dealing with.

When asked if the injury was related to his back or had occurred in Thursday’s game against the Stars, Bowness didn’t get into specifics.

“Just an upper-body injury,” said Bowness. “It’s been bugging him for a couple of days. It’s best to give him the time off.”

An update won’t be available for a few days.

THE CHOICE TO SIT PERFETTI: Perfetti’s offensive struggles are well-documented. He’s now gone 15 games without a point and 18 games without a goal. He also had a tough turnover on Thursday that led to the Stars’ first goal.

“That’s a tough call, but we know it’s been a struggle for him lately,” said Bowness. “Sometimes you just have to reset, “You just go back and take a look at things from a different perspective. We’re going to get him back in there but it’s been a struggle for him and we’re going to keep encouraging him and keep pushing him. He’s a good kid with a great future.”

Bowness was asked what were the biggest benefits to having that reset?

“Take some pressure off yourself,” said Bowness. “The more pressure you put on yourself, the worse it gets, usually. You just get too tense out there and you’re not playing your game.”

It’s too early to tell if Perfetti will be back in the lineup Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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