NHL - Jets - Round Up - March 04-16, 2017

Colorado Avalanche @ Jets 1-6 - Saturday, March 04, 2017

Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck came within 16 seconds of back-to-back shutouts in a 6-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at MTS Centre.  Hellebuyck, making his 10th straight start, made 22 saves before allowing his first goal in almost two games to Gabriel Landeskog, who deflected a point shot past him 19:44 into the third period. Hellebuyck made 29 saves in a 3-0 win against the St. Louis Blues on Friday. Six players scored for the Jets (30-30-6), who trail the Los Angeles Kings by two points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference; the Kings played the Vancouver Canucks later Saturday. Blake Wheeler and Nikolaj Ehlers each had a goal and two assists; and Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele, Ben Chiarot and Jacob Trouba scored for Winnipeg. Calvin Pickard allowed five goals on 20 shots for the Avalanche (17-43-3) and was pulled at 9:00 of the second period.

Jeremy Smith made 10 saves in relief. Laine scored at 4:22 of the first period. He circled back to the top of the slot with the puck and took a slap shot that deflected off Matt Duchene's stick into the top corner. Laine leads NHL rookies with 32 goals, one more than Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews. Laine is two goals behind Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the overall NHL lead. Wheeler made it 2-0 at 9:47 of the first on the power play. Scheifele finished a tic-tac-toe play 15 seconds later to make it 3-0 with his 27th. Chiarot made it 4-0 at 7:03 of the second period with his first of the season, and Ehlers pushed the lead to 5-0, tapping in his 21st at 9:05. Trouba scored his sixth at 13:54 of the third period to make it 6-0.

* Two quick passes, first Ehlers to Laine and then Laine to Scheifele, caught Colorado's defense in the first period.

* Pickard got across his crease in time to get his glove on a Laine one-timer late in the first period with the Jets on the power play. 

* Ehlers faked a shot and waited out Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson before finding Chiarot pinching in from the blue line for his goal in the second period. 

* Jets forward Joel Armia had three shots, one hit and five takeaways in 18:35, including 3:29 shorthanded. 

* Hellebuyck had a shutout streak of 121:54. ... Byfuglien has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a seven-game point streak. … Perreault has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) during those seven games.

"We've come back on teams a handful of times after deficits like that, so kind of learning on our experiences. When we come back on teams, it's partly because we turned our game up a little bit but partly because they stopped plays a little bit too. So, you just don't allow that to happen. Games like that, you have to respect your opponents. A team with that caliber of firepower up front, they get one goal, it's pretty easy for them to start rolling. You just don't want to give them anything to get any momentum."
"It was a carryover from [Friday]. I think we were excited about our game after a huge game. We showed up and played well [Friday]. You do that and then you have an opportunity to come back and repeat it less than 24 hours later, I think you find your team plays really well after nights like that." Blake Wheeler said.
"You have no idea, that is the worst feeling ever. But we got the win, so I'm happy. I know I made a mistake sliding out a little bit." Hellebuyck said.

Calgary Flames @ Jets 3-0 - Saturday, March 11, 2017

The Calgary Flames won their ninth straight game, 3-0 against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Brian Elliott made 31 saves for his second straight shutout. He made 24 saves in a 5-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday and has won seven in a row, nine of his past 10, and is 12-1-1 in his past 14 games.
It is the longest winning streak for the Flames since they moved from Atlanta in 1980-81. The franchise record is 10 in a row, set from Oct. 14-Nov. 3, 1978.

Mikael Backlund, Michael Frolik and Alex Chiasson scored for Calgary (38-26-4), and Dougie Hamilton had three assists after being a game-time decision because of a lower-body injury. Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for Winnipeg (30-33-6), which lost its third in a row and is nine points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with 13 games remaining. Backlund scored to make it 1-0 on the power play at 14:06 of the first period. He made a cross-ice pass to Hamilton, whose shot hit the inside of the right post behind Hellebuyck and came back out the left side to Backlund for his 21st. Frolik made it 2-0 on the power play at 12:09 of the second period. Hamilton's shot was saved by Hellebuyck, but the rebound was picked out by Matthew Tkachuk, who slid the puck out front to Frolik for his 15th. Chiasson extended the lead to 3-0 at 3:24 of the third period. Sean Monahan moved the puck to Chiasson, and his wrist shot beat Hellebuyck on his blocker side.

* Backlund helped set up his goal in the first period. After picking out Hamilton for an open shot, Backlund got the puck back on his stick and backhanded it off a rebound.

* Trouba took the puck to the net and tried to wait out Elliott with a backhand, but Elliott sprawled across his crease to keep it 1-0 early in the second period.

* Hellebuyck got his glove out to stop Backlund in front after defenseman Deryk Engelland set up a scoring opportunity for the Flames from behind the net in the third period.

* Engelland had two shots, three blocks and was plus-1 in 23:59, including 4:19 shorthanded.
* The Flames have won five in a row on the road and are 28-0-1 when leading after two periods. … The Jets are 5-11-1 against the Pacific Division.

Jets Quotes

"I think everybody is approaching it a game at a time and building those two points at a time. We have to keep doing the same things. You can't sit back and look at the little run we've been on. You have to look forward to the next game." Elliott said.
"Frustrating game. I think for us, we had our game right in spurts, but not the full game, and it's disappointing in a big game like that not to have it be right for the full game." Josh Morrissey said.
"You just don't really feel like you're in these games. It's just playing from behind all the time now. It makes it really difficult, especially when things aren't going well and guys aren't feeling good about themselves, to really get anything going." Blake Wheeler

Jets @ Nashville Predators 4-5 OT - Monday, March 13, 2017

James Neal scored on the power play 2:11 into overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 5-4 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Bridgestone Arena on Monday.
Neal beat goaltender Connor Hellebuyck from the right faceoff circle for his 20th goal 34 seconds after Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien was called for hooking Ryan Johansen. The Predators (34-24-11) lead the St. Louis Blues by two points for third place in the Central Division. The Jets (30-33-7) scored the first two goals but couldn't prevent a fourth straight loss (0-3-1). Johansen tied the game 4-4 at 4:23 of the third period when his shot off a pass from Filip Forsberg squeaked past Hellebuyck. Joel Armia gave the Jets a 4-3 lead at 8:39 of the second period when he beat Rinne with a wrist shot from the left circle. The Jets thought they had a 5-3 lead when Mathieu Perreault beat Rinne on a rebound 13:01 into the second period, but Predators coach Peter Laviolette challenged that the play leading to the goal was offside, and it was overturned after video review. Forsberg gave the Predators a 3-2 lead 19 seconds into the second period. Johansen led the 2-on-1 rush and passed it to Forsberg, who beat Hellebuyck for his 28th goal. Patrik Laine scored to tie it 3-3 at 3:38 of the second on a wrist shot from the right circle on the rush. It was his 33rd goal, two behind Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins for the NHL lead. Blake Wheeler gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 3:40 of the first period on the power play. Byfuglien put the Jets ahead 2-0 at 12:11 of the first period on a one-timer from below the right circle, but Austin Watson scored 23 seconds later to get the Predators within 2-1. Maurice challenged that the Predators were offside before Watson's goal, but video review confirmed the initial call. Mike Fisher scored to tie it 2-2 with 10.6 seconds remaining in the first period. Jets forward Marko Dano left the game in the third period after taking a hit from defenseman Ryan Ellis. There was no update following the game. Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba missed the game with an upper-body injury and is day to day.

* Johansen beat Hellebuyck with a sharp-angled redirection from below the right circle off a pass from Forsberg from the slot to help send the game to overtime.

* Rinne made a stick save when Laine tried to shoot though the five-hole on a breakaway at 1:24 of overtime.

* Josi split Laine and Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers with a breakout pass into the neutral zone to Craig Smith that led to Fisher's goal on the rush.
* Watson scored from the right circle after moving around Jets defenseman Mark Stuart with a toe-drag move. With Anthony Bitetto driving to the net, Watson beat Hellebuyck on the blocker side.
* Laine had seven shots on goal and nine shot attempts in 17:41 of ice time. … Neal has scored 20 or more goals in each of the first nine seasons of his NHL career.

Jets Quotes

"There's some good things with some guys that don't play those kinds of minutes and they play real well, and some things you've got to get better at. For guys who aren't used to playing against a team that's got a real unusual style, there's lots of seam plays and [are] pretty aggressive offensively, I think for the most part those guys did as [good] as they can [on playing without defensemen Jacob Trouba, Toby Enstrom and Tyler Myers]."
"I think we started right and had a good pace to our game. I didn't like the number of times we didn't get pucks in, in the third period. I think it took our offensive game away from us a little bit." Paul Maurice said.

Jets @ NY Islanders 4-2 - Thursday, March 16, 2017

Bryan Little scored two goals to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 win against the New York Islanders at Barclays Center. Mathieu Perreault and Adam Lowry scored in the second period, and Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves for the Jets (31-33-7), who were 0-3-1 in their previous four games. Winnipeg is 10 points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Little scored twice in a span of 9:13 during the first period after Adam Pelech gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 38 seconds into the game. New York (33-26-11) lost for the third time in four games. The Islanders fell one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference. The Maple Leafs won 5-0 at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Tampa Bay and the Islanders are even in points, but New York has two more regulation/overtime wins. The Islanders have been in desperation mode for most of the second half of the season after a poor start, and coach Doug Weight said his players might have tried to do too much after falling behind. The Islanders started fast when Pelech took a straightaway wrist shot from just inside the blue line that floated past Hellebuyck. It was Pelech's second NHL goal and first since Nov. 22. Winnipeg tied it at 9:22 when Little put the puck into the open left side of the net after picking up the carom of Nikolaj Ehlers' shot off the post. He gave the Jets a 2-1 lead at 18:35 with a power-play goal, beating goalie Thomas Greiss from the right circle for his 20th of the season. Perreault made it 3-1 at 3:24, scoring his eighth goal of the season on a wrist shot from the left circle. Lowry shot his own rebound past Greiss at 11:31 to give the Jets a 4-1 lead. Anders Lee scored his 26th goal of the season 1:02 into the third period to make it 4-2. Greiss made 24 saves.

* Little's second goal was a perfectly placed wrist shot that caught the far side after Nic Petan's drop pass.

* Hellebuyck preserved Winnipeg's 4-2 lead when Strome was alone between the circles and took a wrist shot that Hellebuyck nabbed with his catching glove with 5:59 remaining. Strome had lifted his stick in celebration.

* The Islanders were leading 1-0 and on a power play when Hellebuyck and defenseman Mark Stuart combined to keep John Tavares from giving New York a two-goal lead. Hellebuyck got over to the left post to stop Tavares' wrist shot from the right circle; the puck came right back to him, but Stuart got in front of the shot.

* Little won 10 of 13 faceoffs. The other four Jets who took draws were 11-for-33.

* It was the ninth game in 15 days for the Islanders. … The Jets helped Hellebuyck by blocking 20 shots, including four by defenseman Josh Morrissey. … Winnipeg entered the game 28th in the NHL in penalty killing but held the Islanders scoreless in four power plays.

"It's hard to celebrate anything. We're in a tough spot. Now we're just trying to get better as a team and work on things. It's hard to celebrate personal achievements [scoring his 20th goal of the season]."
"My linemates did a really good job of getting pucks turned over. That's the way it goes sometimes."
"They had a few shifts in our end where they were cycling around and had some chances. But for the most part, we did a good job keeping them on the outside and when we did have a breakdown, Hellebuyck came up with some really big saves." Bryan Little said.