A one-man Armia on Jets’ penalty kill

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This article was published 18/10/2016 (3264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WHILE the Winnipeg Jets’ power play has failed to produce results early in the 2016-17 season, the penalty-killing unit is showing signs of improvement.

The PK unit stuggled in the season-opener as the Carolina Hurricanes made good on two of four opportunities with the man advantage Thursday in the Jets’ 5-4 overtime win at the MTS Centre.

Since then, Winnipeg yielded one power-play goal out of four chances for Minnesota in the Wild’s 4-3 home win Saturday night and then shut out the visiting Boston Bruins on four opportunities Monday.

Indeed, it’s a small sample size. But any encouraging steps forward are a bonus for a team that finished 25th in the league in that area during the 2015-16 campaign.

Joel Armia was a major contributor to the cause Monday. The 23-year-old Finn, a healthy scratch Saturday night in St. Paul, Minn., returned to the lineup in place of Chris Thorburn against the Bruins and had an impact while on a line with centre Alex Burmistrov and left-winger Kyle Connor. He had a couple of good scoring chances and fired four pucks at Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask.

But his effort with the Jets a man short did not go unnoticed by his coach.

“It’s funny, his best pace comes on the (penalty kill), where sometimes young players will hold back,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice, following Monday’s contest. “He and Brandon (Tanev) have a nice chemistry going together and they’re starting to read off each other.”

Armia had 14 minutes, 22 seconds of ice time against the Bruins, including 2:58 killing penalties.

“I still believe with Joel Armia there’s an offensive game,” said Maurice. “The nice part for him is his defensive game is solid from the start.”

Armia, acquired in the February 2015 trade that saw forward Evander Kane and defenceman Zach Bogosian head to the Buffalo Sabres for blue-liner Tyler Myers and forwards Drew Stafford and Brendan Lemieux, said he takes great pride in his defensive abilities.

But the 6-3, 205-pound forward also noted no coach before Maurice had recognized those skills would translate nicely in a penalty-killing role.

“This is probably the first place I’ve been doing penalty killing. I haven’t done it before. I like it,” said Armia.

“I think I have a good stick and can read some plays they do. But there’s still a lot of hard work to do on that part.”

Top picks face off

The Jets host the Auston Matthews-powered Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at the MTS Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.

The game features the first head-to-head NHL battle between Matthews, the Leafs’ sensational first-year forward, and Jets rookie winger Patrick Laine.

Matthews and Laine went 1-2 in this summer’s NHL Draft in Buffalo.

Matthews became the first player in the modern era to record four goals in his NHL debut, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators in the season-opener last Wednesday. Three nights later, he was held off the scoresheet as Toronto beat the Boston Bruins 4-1.

Laine, meanwhile, scored once and added an assists in the Jets’ victory over Carolina but didn’t hit the scoresheet against either Minnesota or Boston.

Rask makes history

Boston goalie Tuukka Rask picked up as many points as the entire Jets lineup Monday night.

The Finnish-born goalie was credited with assists on goals by David Pastrnak and Zdeno Chara as the Bruins scored four unanswered goals to defeat the Jets 4-1 at the MTS Centre.

Rask became the first goalie in Bruins’ franchise history to pick up two assists in a regular-season game.

Jeff Reese holds the NHL records for most points by a netminder in a single game, set when he had three assists for the Calgary Flames in a game against the San Jose Sharks in 1993.

Rask, the Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s top goalie following the 2013-14 season, now has nine career assists — well back of Tom Barrasso, who recorded 48 during his 18-year NHL career.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell