Jets @ Tampa Bay Lightning 6-4 - Tuesday, January 03, 2016
Nikolaj Ehlers scored two goals, including a penalty shot, to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-4 at Amalie Arena. Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba, Dustin Byfuglien and Patrik Laine scored for Winnipeg (18-19-3), and Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves. Nikita Kucherov scored twice, and Matthew Peca, Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning (19-16-4), who lost in regulation at home for the first time since Dec. 10. Ehlers was awarded a penalty shot at 4:30 of the second period when Kucherov was called for hooking him. Ehlers beat Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot on the glove side to give the Jets a 2-1 lead. Trouba made it 3-1 at 5:19 of the second when he scored on a shot from the high post that beat Vasilevskiy on the stick side. Byfuglien pushed the lead to 4-1 at 14:44 with a flip from the right point that got by Vasilevskiy's glove. The Lightning made it 4-2 at 3:26 of the third period when Palat converted a 2-on-1 break with a chip past Hellebuyck off a pass from Tyler Johnson. Ehlers made it 5-2 at 9:28 of the third on a wrist shot from the slot that beat Vasilevskiy high. Kucherov scored two power-play goals in the third. The first came off a rebound of a slap shot that hit the crossbar at 12:22 to make it 5-3, and the second came at 17:29 when he beat Hellebuyck with a wrist shot to the five-hole to make it 5-4. Laine scored into an empty net with 1:23 left. Scheifele gave the Jets a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 7:25 of the first period. Peca tied it 1-1 with his first NHL goal at 3:43 of the second period. He was playing his fourth game.
* Ehlers cut to the middle of the ice, leaving Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman behind and creating an open look for his second goal.
"It's something I did a lot in juniors," Ehlers said. "[Scheifele] going to the net there opened up that space for me."
* Vasilevskiy used his blocker and stick to turn away Laine on a backhand at 1:11 of the second period.
* Jets coach Paul Maurice raved about Scheifele's performance beyond his stat line (goal, assist, plus-2).
* Ehlers took advantage of his penalty-shot opportunity and beat Vasilevskiy with a quick release to the short side that started a three-goal run for the Jets.
* Vasilevskiy allowed five goals on 33 shots. … The Jets' goal differential was minus-27 in the second period. …Jets center Bryan Little won 15 of 23 faceoffs (65 percent). … Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin was minus-3 for the first time in the NHL.
"I liked the very first shift after they scored [in the second period]. That was really strong. I can't remember in recent history, not just this season, where we had that many [grade] A chances over the course of a game." Paul Maurice
"I've had my difficulties on breakaways. [Tuesday] I thought I'm just going to go and try and do a quick move and just shoot it. And it worked out." Ehlers said.
"Anytime your team puts up six (goals) it's a pretty good thing. We just stayed on the puck and played the right way. Anytime you are doing the right things, you get those goals." Hellebuyck said
Jets @ Florida Panthers 4-1 - Wednesday, January 04, 2016
Patrik Laine scored his 21st goal of the season and had an assist when the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1 at BB&T Center. Laine came into the game tied with Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the rookie scoring lead with 20 goals and 14 assists each. Shawn Matthias, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele also scored for the Jets (19-19-3), who defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-4 in the previous game. Bryan Little had two assists.
Laine also had a goal in the victory against Tampa Bay. Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for his second consecutive victory since being pulled after allowing four goals on 15 shots in a 6-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday. Greg McKegg scored for the Panthers (16-15-8), who have lost five of their past six (1-2-3). Jaromir Jagr got his 1,136th NHL assist to pass Paul Coffey for fifth place on the all-time list. Roberto Luongo made 35 saves but failed in his third attempt to pass Terry Sawchuk for fifth place on the all-time wins list. Luongo and Sawchuk each have 447 NHL victories.
"I was [tempted to shoot] until I knew who I was on the ice with," Little said. "I was in a pretty good shooting position, too, but I figured if I got it to him, it was pretty much guaranteed. So that's what I did."
"We just played a pretty solid 60 minutes. A couple of stupid penalties, but I think that was it. We defended pretty well and we managed to do those things that we wanted to do before the game. It was just a good game for us."
"It's always nice to score. I've been able to help my team win with those goals, like today. I'm just happy that I scored." Laine said.
"It was satisfying as you can imagine [back-to-back road wins against the Lightning and Panthers], especially being in the warm weather and having a day off tomorrow. I think that we're going to enjoy the weather."
"He'll get it. He's a good goalie. I grew up watching him and I was always a big fan of him. Just being able to play him a couple of times and see what he's like, I kind of cherish that moment." Connor Hellebuyck said.
"We're not shocked by it anymore. He's just got that shot that it's unbelievable. Some nights he doesn't have that many chances, but he's a guy that only needs one clear shot and he's putting it in the back of the net. He's going to score a lot of goals in his career, that's for sure."
"Awesome [Hellebuyck's play]. Everyone has off games. Our whole team had an off game that night. He's had our backs these last two games. He kept us in it last night in Tampa, gave us a chance to win, and tonight he did the same thing. Every time we had letdowns or they had chances, he shut the door for us and came up big. He looked great." Little said.
* Off a faceoff in the Winnipeg zone, Florida put together a nice three-way passing play between Matheson, Jussi Jokinen and Aaron Ekblad, but Hellebuyck made a pad save on Ekblad's one-timer.
* Ekblad blocked defenseman Ben Chiarot's dump-in attempt at the Florida blue line. Jagr made slight contact with the puck before McKegg took it in the neutral zone. McKegg skated in on the right wing and beat Hellebuyck with a wrist shot that bounced in off the far post to give Jagr his historic assist.
* Coach Paul Maurice called defenseman Jacob Trouba one of the Jets' best players Wednesday. Trouba had an assist, and led Winnipeg with six shots on goal and three blocks in 25:14 of ice time.
* Panthers forward Seth Griffith left the game in the first period with a concussion and did not return. He was concussed when he collided with Ehlers in the neutral zone. … Winnipeg has won four consecutive road games for the first time this season.
"We just played a pretty solid 60 minutes. A couple of stupid penalties, but I think that was it. We defended pretty well and we managed to do those things that we wanted to do before the game. It was just a good game for us."
"It's always nice to score. I've been able to help my team win with those goals, like today. I'm just happy that I scored." Laine said.
"It was satisfying as you can imagine [back-to-back road wins against the Lightning and Panthers], especially being in the warm weather and having a day off tomorrow. I think that we're going to enjoy the weather."
"He'll get it. He's a good goalie. I grew up watching him and I was always a big fan of him. Just being able to play him a couple of times and see what he's like, I kind of cherish that moment." Connor Hellebuyck said.
"We're not shocked by it anymore. He's just got that shot that it's unbelievable. Some nights he doesn't have that many chances, but he's a guy that only needs one clear shot and he's putting it in the back of the net. He's going to score a lot of goals in his career, that's for sure."
"Awesome [Hellebuyck's play]. Everyone has off games. Our whole team had an off game that night. He's had our backs these last two games. He kept us in it last night in Tampa, gave us a chance to win, and tonight he did the same thing. Every time we had letdowns or they had chances, he shut the door for us and came up big. He looked great." Little said.
Jets @ Buffalo Sabres 3-4 - Saturday, January 07, 2016
Brian Gionta scored the tiebreaking goal 9:54 into the third period to help the Buffalo Sabres defeat the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 at KeyBank Center. The Sabres were trailing 3-1 to start the third period. Gionta skated toward the goal from the left circle and held the puck before taking a shot from the right circle that got past Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck for the 4-3 lead. Jets rookie forward Patrik Laine left the game 5:51 into in the third period after taking a hit from Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe. The Sabres (15-15-9) have won two of the past three games. Second-period goals by Drew Stafford and Joel Armia gave the Jets (19-20-3) a two-goal lead. Marcus Foligno scored his seventh goal of the season on a breakaway after a pass from Cody Franson 5:12 into the third period when he slipped a backhand past Hellebuyck for a 3-2 lead. Zemgus Girgensons tied the game 26 seconds later when he put a rebound of a shot by Matt Moulson past Hellebuyck for his fifth goal. Gionta's goal came 4:16 later.
Nikolaj Ehlers gave the Jets a 1-0 lead 4:48 into the first period when he received a pass from Laine after Mark Scheifele sent a pass ahead to start a 2-on-1 against Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. Laine and Scheifele each extended his point streak to four games. Ehlers has five goals during a four-game goal streak. Ryan O'Reilly made it 1-1 with 24 seconds left in the first period off a pass from Sam Reinhart.
* Ehlers' first-period goal came off a setup by Laine.
"It's going to be tough. You're going to chew on this one for a while. We were pretty dominant up until we got three consecutive penalties at the end of the second. I thought it was about as good as it could be, so you have to build on that."
"No update [on Laine]. I don't have a problem with the hit. They hit heads. It was a straight-on hit." Paul Maurice said.
"They played good and we let them have it. We sat back a little bit and they came in waves and obviously generated a lot against us." Scheifele said.
* Ehlers' first-period goal came off a setup by Laine.
* With Winnipeg leading 3-1, Hellebuyck made a sprawling leg save against Marcus Foligno with 6:20 left in the second period.
* Gionta's third-period goal was a practice in patience as he waited out Hellebuyck.
* Ristolainen played an NHL career-high 30:22. He had four shots on goal, three hits, four blocked shots, and a plus-2 rating.
* Sabres defenseman Josh Gorges (hip) was scratched. He was replaced by Taylor Fedun. … The Sabres have won four straight against the Jets franchise for the first time since the Sabres defeated the Atlanta Thrashers four in a row from Feb. 16, 2004 to Jan. 31, 2006. … Buffalo is 7-3-2 against the Western Conference.
"It's going to be tough. You're going to chew on this one for a while. We were pretty dominant up until we got three consecutive penalties at the end of the second. I thought it was about as good as it could be, so you have to build on that."
"No update [on Laine]. I don't have a problem with the hit. They hit heads. It was a straight-on hit." Paul Maurice said.
"They played good and we let them have it. We sat back a little bit and they came in waves and obviously generated a lot against us." Scheifele said.
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