Taking care of business and winning overtimes

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This article was published 01/03/2021 (1740 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul Stastny’s goal 36 seconds into overtime sealed the deal against the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night, putting a positive end on an otherwise challenging night for the boys in blue.

The 2-1 victory continued their perfect record in overtime, now at 4-0 on the year.

After the game, head coach Paul Maurice, and a few of players, lamented the fact they had been outplayed but, naturally, appreciated the end result. But while it was a chaotic first three periods — Montreal outshot Winnipeg 41 to 21, and had 78 shot attempts compared to 38 by the Jets — the Jets seemed to have a steady confidence as it entered the extra frame.

“Three-on-three is a completely different game. You’ve got that much more room to play with. You always see teams that when they just skate around and don’t really get to any chances in the O-zone, they take the puck out and try to set something new up and sometimes you see 2-on-1s going back and forth with the 3-on-0s and 3-on-1s,” Nikolaj Ehlers said Saturday.

“We felt comfortable this year in the way that we play and it doesn’t change the way that we want to go out there and play 3-on-3 when we haven’t had the best game. So we feel confident in ourselves that we can go out and close a game when we give ourselves a chance to win. Like I said, 3-on-3 is a very different game and we’re confident in that game whenever we get to it.”

Of the four games the Jets have won in overtime this season, in the last two Maurice has opted to go an untraditional route by deploying three forwards. The move has paid off in spades, with the Jets on both occasions scoring almost immediately.

Last Sunday, the Jets edged the Vancouver Canucks in extra time, 4-3. Maurice opted to use his top forward line of Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Pierre-Luc Dubois and the result was a Dubois goal just 27 seconds into overtime. On Saturday, it was Stastny with Ehlers and Kyle Connor.

Maurice was asked if he had wished he used the three-forward format sooner.

“Yeah, I rue the overtime losses in past years where I didn’t go three forwards,” Maurice said, tongue firmly in cheek. “Clearly after 60 (minutes), with the way that the game was played, we’re happy that we got to the overtime period, for sure.”

Maurice was clearly still wearing some of his frustration from the game.

As Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck put it, it’s the kind of adversity the Jets saw through the first 60 minutes of the game that has helped them navigate through the ups and downs, which allowed for them to reset in time for OT.

“You’ve got to go through a little bit of adversity. You’ve got to fail a little bit and you’ve got to realize what it feels like to lose and to lose tight games or big games,” he said. “You’ve got to remember how bad it feels and maybe that gives you a little boost and a little bit of extra energy when you really need it.”

As for no defence in OT — something that would seem particularly daunting for a goalie — Hellebuyck sees an advantage in trying to go on a full-out attack.

“We have had a lot of success with it. I think the biggest key is keeping the puck in. They have an attack mentality,” he said. “I didn’t want that to be the icing at the end and everyone was on the same page. I think that is part of our success: everyone is on the same page.”

Hellebuyck busy

Speaking of Hellebuyck, the 27-year-old put forth his strongest efforts of the year. He turned aside 40 shots, boasting an eye-popping .976 save percentage, to earn his 10th win in 16 starts.

While Hellebuyck’s stats this season don’t exactly find him atop the NHL rankings — he’s 15th in save percentage (.918) and 19th in goals-against average (2.56) for goalies with at least five starts— he’s remained a calming presence.

Maurice was asked what getting a strong performance from Hellebuyck can do for his players.

“Well, it manifests day over day because if he makes that save, the chances of that specific clip being in the video the next day drops precipitously. If you have a colossal blunder and it’s in the back of the net, you’ve got to live with it there, you’ve got to live with it in the media after and there’s a chance you’ve got to live with it with the video session the next day,” Maurice said. “Occasionally, if he makes the save, you tap him on the pads and it might be on the video for a great save. It changes the defenceman’s world and the team the more times that you don’t have to say sorry to your goalie about the mistake that you just made. That’s why those guys, they’ll always come back to the ‘tender and give him a tap when they bail them out.”

Niku up and down

Sami Niku returned to the Jets line-up for a second straight game Saturday. It’s been an up-and-down season for the former AHL defenceman of the year.

In two games, both against the Canadiens, Niku has averaged just more than 13 minutes per game, registering one shot, two blocks and two penalty minutes. While he didn’t register a point, Niku started a play with a great outlet pass to Ehlers, who helped set up Kyle Connor for a goal.

“I liked my game. Of course, not easy when you don’t play for a month. I started with a simple game and I really liked my game,” Niku said Saturday morning.

“You just work hard in practice and you just need to be ready to play when you get a chance. You need to be as good as possible when you get a chance.”

It’s unclear whether Niku will play a third consecutive game. With the Jets putting Tucker Poolman (upper-body) on injured reserve, it has opened up a spot on the 23-man roster, which was scooped up by Logan Stanley. Stanley will likely take Niku’s spot Monday against the Canucks.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton