Hungry Mason in Jets’ crease tonight after palate-cleansing Hellebuyck run

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This article was published 17/10/2017 (2887 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steve Mason says he’s looking to have some fun. But the big off-season signing for the Winnipeg Jets is also looking for a little redemption when he returns to the crease tonight.

Mason got off to a shaky start with his new team, getting pulled early in the third period of the team’s home-opener in an eventual 7-2 loss to Toronto. He had another tough outing a few nights later in Calgary as the Jets fell 6-3 to the Flames.

Connor Hellebuyck took over between the pipes and rattled off three straight wins, giving up just five goals on 100 shots in the process. But now it’s back to Mason, who will look to extend Winnipeg’s winning streak to four as they take on the powerful Columbus Blue Jackets (4-1-0) at Bell MTS Place.

“You know what, it’s been just over a week, I guess here, and I’m looking to go in there and have some fun,” Mason said following the morning skate. “It wasn’t the start I was looking for, but we went out and rattled off three wins here, so put ourselves in a good position to get out of that (early hole) and we want to continue that.”

Mason said he hasn’t spent much time worrying about what he can’t change.

“At the end of the day, I would have liked those first couple of games to go better. That’s the way it is. You put it behind you, you work hard and good things will happen with the hard work,” he said.

Coach Paul Maurice said he didn’t want to have Mason sit much longer, especially with the Jets not playing again until Friday and then facing a five-day break following that game.

“I wasn’t down on him at all. He looked like us. But he wasn’t our worst player. He was better than a bunch of guys in those first two games. When I took him out I had no concern that I was gonna sit this guy for a long period of time,” said Maurice. “You know what, Steve’s two games were a lot better than those numbers will tell you. Especially in Calgary. He made some really good saves. I didn’t take him out because I thought that goaltending was the issue with our play. I just made a change at the time I thought I needed to. But also knew we were going to get him back in.”

Columbus is the team that drafted Mason in 2006, and where he won the Calder trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2008-09. He spent five seasons with the Blue Jackets before moving on to Philadelphia.

Is it a big deal to be in the net against the Jackets?

“No. Not anymore,” he said. “Maybe the first time that I played them, but I’ve probably played them 10 times since them. It’s an entirely different team, pretty much. There’s nothing lingering from playing there. It’s an entirely different team and they’re a good hockey club there, so we’ve got to be ready for them.”

Mason won’t be the only change to the lineup that beat Carolina last Saturday. Kyle Connor will make his season debut on a line with Bryan Little and Patrik Laine. He takes the place of Mathieu Perreault, who was injured blocking a shot and is expected to miss the next month.

Tucker Poolman is also back, taking the place of defenceman Dmitry Kulikov, who was also hurt Saturday and is expected to miss up to two weeks. He’s paired up with Tyler Myers. Poolman has played in two games so far this season.

The Jets announced this morning centre Adam Lowry has been placed on the injured-reserve list, retroactive to last Thursday.

That has prompted the promotion of forward Brendan Lemieux from the Manitoba Moose.

Lemieux, 21, has five points (3G, 2A) in four games for the Moose this season.

He has yet to play an NHL game and isn’t expected to dress tonight.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg