Rookie Lowry to the rescue in second period

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This article was published 25/02/2015 (3914 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE ship was taking on some serious water during Tuesday’s second period at the MTS Centre and it was Winnipeg Jets rookie centre Adam Lowry who plugged the leak.

The 21-year-old popped home his own rebound at 14:34 of the middle frame, restoring the Jets’ lead at 2-1 over the Dallas Stars, a goal on which the Jets built some momentum in claiming their 4-2 victory.

The Stars had owned the second period to that point, getting Erik Cole’s goal to tie it just 2:34 before Lowry stepped up.

“Pards (Adam Pardy), the puck came off his stick and I just kind of found it in the slot,” Lowry said after the Jets moved their record to 31-20-11. “I’d been talking to Pavs (Ondrej Pavelec) on the bench a bit and he said, ‘Get some pucks to this goalie, he’s been sitting around for the last 30 minutes.’

“I don’t think we had had a shot in the first 14 minutes of that period, so I just tried to get that puck on net and he kicked the rebound out to me. So I was just trying to go far side and luckily it went in.

“It was a tight game. In the second period, we were caught a little bit on our heels and we were grasping for a little bit of a momentum change and I was glad I could provide that.”

It was Lowry’s seventh goal and 16th point of his rookie NHL season. Three of his goals have been game-winners.

“He’s a really smart pro,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice. “So he understands we’ve got two of our top six (forwards) out of the lineup. We’re going to need offence from all of the different lines. He picks up on that. His intensity level was as high tonight as it’s been for quite some time.”

Lowry said he’s not flummoxed by the pressure building around the team as the season’s fourth quarter begins. The wrong side of the playoff line is closer than it was four weeks ago.

“Any time you get closer to the playoffs, there’s going to be some pressure,” Lowry said. “Especially on a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since they’ve come back to Winnipeg. We’re putting some pressure on ourselves. We have high expectations of this group in the room and we were not necessarily playing up to our standards right out of the all-star break.

“I think the last eight or nine games with the exception of the Washington game, we’ve started to get better and get back to some of the things that made us successful.

“There is definitely some pressure. You obviously want to keep building and keep moving forward but that said, there are a lot of teams fighting for their lives so every game becomes that much more important.”

‘Brotherly Love’

Jets left-winger Carl Klingberg faced his brother John, the Dallas Stars defenceman, for the first time in the NHL Tuesday.

“It was amazing,” Carl said after the game. “Great experience. He’s such a skilled D and a big part of their team. It’s tough to measure performances out there, but I think I did all right. I got a piece of him a few times. That’s all I wanted from this game.”

Carl played just 3:46 as compared to John’s 24:16, but the two brothers collided more than once. In the first period, Carl knocked John down on the forecheck. In the second period, John took a hard run at his brother in the neutral zone.

“It’s just brotherly love,” Carl laughed after the game.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca