Thursday 2 February 2017

NHL - Jets - Round Up January 18-26, 2017


Phoenix Coyotes @ Jets 3-6 - Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Ondrej Pavelec made 30 saves in his first NHL game of the season to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Coyotes 6-3 at MTS Centre. Pavelec started his first NHL game since April 9 after being called up from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. He allowed two first-period goals before Winnipeg scored five in a row in the second and third periods. Bryan Little, Blake Wheeler, Andrew Copp, Joel Armia, Jacob Trouba and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets (21-23-4), who ended a four-game losing streak. Josh Jooris, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jakob Chychrun scored for the Coyotes (13-25-6). Mike Smith was pulled after he allowed six goals on 35 shots. Louis Domingue made four saves in relief. Jooris scored on the first shot Pavelec faced, making it 1-0 at 2:49 of the first period. Jooris was playing in place of forward Martin Hanzal, who left the Coyotes to deal with a family matter. Little tied the game 1-1 at 3:36, redirecting Josh Morrissey's point shot past Smith. Ekman-Larsson gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead at 8:50 on a 5-on-3 power play, putting his wrist shot from the top of the circle high past Pavelec's glove hand. The Jets scored twice in 1:39 early in the second period. Wheeler finished a tic-tac-toe play to tie it 2-2 at 3:03, and Copp gave the Jets a 3-2 lead at 4:42. Armia made it 4-2 at 12:49, tipping Shawn Matthias' centering pass past Smith. Trouba scored at 7:42 of the third period to make it 5-2, and Ehlers made it 6-2 1:17 later. Chychrun scored at 14:42 to make it 6-3.

* Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien made a stretch pass to Matthias at the Coyotes blue line. Matthias skated into the zone and found Armia, who was skating down the right side.
* Pavelec had to stretch across his crease to get the paddle of his stick on Radim Vrbata's shot, deflecting it over the net.
"It was kind of my fault, I couldn't hold the rebound," Pavelec said. "Lucky save. It's nice to have that save, that's for sure. It feels really good. But we were up already 4-2 and it just [was a] lucky save."

"Oh, it's early, eh [if Ondrej Pavelec will start Saturday]. This is six games in nine nights for our hockey team here tonight, so we're going to take the day off (Thursday), but he's feeling good, we're feeling good, I probably won't be changing a whole lot."
"Going to the minors at this point in his career is a humbling thing, but he figured out how to handle it right, got himself right back up here." Paul Maurice said
"I just like how the team responded. I think as a goalie, you get called up from the AHL, you can't ask more from the team in front of him. I think the guys battled so hard. I think they realized the goalie would be struggling in the first period. It's a nice comeback and was nice to get the win in the first game, that's for sure." Pavelec said.
"We responded well. The first period didn't go the way we wanted it to. We just stuck with it and kept battling." Wheeler said.
Anaheim Sucks @ Jets 3-2 - Monday, January 23, 2017
Rickard Rakell scored his 20th goal and Jonathan Bernier made 31 saves to help the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Bernier started in place of John Gibson, who was injured in a 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday but served as Bernier's backup in the game. Logan Shaw and Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Ducks (27-14-9), who are 4-1-1 in their past six road games. Andrew Copp and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets (22-24-4), who failed to win their third straight game for the first time this season, with Monday being their ninth opportunity. Copp was promoted and played on the right wing with Mark Scheifele and Ehlers with Drew Stafford out because of a lower-body injury. Ondrej Pavelec allowed three goals on 27 shots in his first loss in three straight starts after being recalled from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Jan. 17. Copp scored to make it 1-0 at 2:14 of the first period, taking a pass from Scheifele in the slot for his sixth goal.
Shaw tied the game 1-1 with the Ducks shorthanded at 4:07 of the first period. Cam Fowler's low shot was saved by Pavelec but Shaw was in position to put the rebound in for his second of the season. Rakell scored 1:25 later to make it 2-1, picking up a loose puck and shooting short side on Pavelec. Getzlaf made it 3-1, scoring on the power play at 8:48 of the third period. Ehlers scored to make it 3-2 at 12:53. Jets forward Mathieu Perreault left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Jets coach Paul Maurice said he wouldn't play against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen was a late healthy scratch. Defenseman Korbinian Holzer dressed in his place.

* Getzlaf scored the game-winning goal on a deft tip in front of Pavelec from Shea Theodore's point shot.

"It was good for the confidence, I guess. It's nice to start the game the right way, I guess, for me. Like anybody else, you score one early you feel like you've got good jump and ready to go. I thought I just built from there." Copp said.
"I thought we played great. Sometimes the score is not always a good indicator. Just because we lost the game doesn't mean we got our [rear ends] kicked all night. We did a lot of good things."
"We battled our tails off, but came up one [goal] short. There's built-in animosity anytime we play anyone right now. We're in 11th place or whatever, so we're trying to fight for our lives right now." Blake Wheeler said.
Jets @ Hawks 5-3 - Thursday, January 26, 2017

Andrew Copp and Bryan Little scored 32 seconds apart late in the third period to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at United Center.
Mark Scheifele scored into an empty net with 2:03 remaining. The Jets scored the final three goals in a span of 2:00. It was Winnipeg's fourth straight win against Chicago this season. Connor Hellebuyck, who made 38 saves in his first start since Jan. 13, started every game. The Jets and Blackhawks play for the final time this season on Feb. 10 in Winnipeg. It was the second straight game the Blackhawks lost when leading after two periods. The lost 5-2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Prior to Tuesday, the Blackhawks (30-16-5) hadn't lost when leading after two periods in 17 games (16-0-1) and were 78-0-5 in the regular-season since the final game of 2013-14. It was the last game for each team prior to the 2017 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. Copp tied the game at 3-3 at 15:57 of the third. He redirected Josh Morrissey's shot past Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling (28 saves). Little scored off the rush at 16:29, his sixth goal in the past five games. Duncan Keith, Nick Schmaltz and Tanner Kero scored for the Blackhawks. Kero's goal at 16:37 of the second period put Chicago ahead 3-2. The Blackhawks had fallen behind 2-0 in the first period on goals by Patrik Laine at 6:16 and Shawn Matthias 42 seconds later. It was the third game in a row, and fifth in the past seven, the Blackhawks allowed back-to-back goals in less than a minute.

* Little scored the game-winner with a wrist shot high to the short side. He took the shot from the right faceoff dot after receiving a short pass from defenseman Jacob Trouba.
* After Jets defenseman Mark Stuart and Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger collided on the left wing, Schmaltz skated in and sent a quick shot past Hellebuyck.
Jets Quotes
"I don't really have a great explanation for you. I mean, [they're] one of the top teams in our conference perennially. It must just be a matchup thing. They must just bring out the best in us, so we always look forward to these matchups because we like to see how we stack up against the best. And they certainly are." Blake Wheeler
"[Copp's goal] was huge. We were positive on the bench and we knew we were going to get some chances to get ourselves back in the game. Once everyone saw that one go in, I mean, you could feel the momentum switch sides."
"That's something we didn't really talk about or probably most of us didn't even know about. For some reason we elevate our game when we play this team. We always give our best." Little said.

Hawks Quotes
"I think we've been doing a good job, except these last two, with closing games in the third period … especially this one. It's going to kind of ruin the break a little bit. This one's going to take a while to swallow, the way we lost this one." Niklas Hjalmarsson said.
"You certainly can't be happy. There were some positives in both games [this week], but definitely an awful taste now." Joel Quenneville

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