Sunday, 16 April 2017

NHL - Jets - Update - March 26-30, 2017


Vancouver Canucks @ Jets 1-2 - Sunday, March 26, 2017

Adam Lowry scored a power-play goal with 8:13 remaining to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 2-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at MTS Centre. The Jets (34-35-7) are 11 points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with six games remaining.
Perreault had a goal and an assist for the Jets. Perreault has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in his past 17 games. Michael Hutchinson made 28 saves.
Alexander Edler scored for the Canucks (30-36-9), who were eliminated from the playoff contention on March 23. Ryan Miller made 30 saves. Moments after Hutchinson made a save on Sven Baertschi's shorthanded chance, the Jets worked the puck down low in the Canucks zone and Perreault sent it out front to Lowry for his 14th goal of the season. Edler scored with 22 seconds left in the first period on a shot from the point to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. Perreault scored a power play-goal at 13:51 of the second period to make it 1-1. Canucks forward Brock Boeser, who signed an entry-level contract on Saturday after the University of North Dakota was eliminated from the NCAA tournament, nearly had his second NHL goal in as many days in the first period, but Mark Scheifele lifted his stick to prevent what would have been an easy tap-in.

* Perreault sent a pass between a diving Luca Sbisa and Baertschi, who was on his knees in front to Lowry open in the slot. Lowry was able get his shot off before Nikita Tryamkin could get his stick in the way.
* Wheeler had four shots on goal, three hits, two assists and a takeaway in 21 minutes of ice time.
* Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher left the game in the first period and did not return. There was no update on his status following the game. … The Canucks are 6-9-0 in the second game of back-to-backs. … Jets forward Patrik Laine missed the game because of an illness. … The Jets have scored a power-play goal in seven straight games.

"It was a great play, with [Blake Wheeler] keeping it in and [Mathieu Perreault] made a great pass and I was able to bury it. It was nice to come out on top of the special teams battle for once." Lowry said.
"Confidence is as high as it can be. For a long stretch I'm playing with [Mark Scheifele] and [Wheeler], two of our best players. Tonight, the power play clicked so it's a combination of a bunch of things, but definitely confidence." Perreault said.
"It's always nice when you play in those games where it's tight going into the third. It's a character builder. With us having a young team, every game we can have close in the third period, we're treating it as a playoff game. Like a must win to get into the playoffs, because that's the mindset you have to have in these games." Michael Hutchinson
Jets @ New Jersey 4-3 SO - Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Patrik Laine scored the only goal in a shootout to give the Winnipeg Jets a 4-3 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Laine scored in the second round when his shot beat Cory Schneider between the pads. Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped John Quenneville, Taylor Hall and Pavel Zacha. Joel Armia, Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler scored and Hellebuyck made 20 saves for the Jets (35-35-7), who are 8-1-2 in the past 11 games against the Devils. Hall, Beau Bennett and Stefan Noesen scored and Schneider made 33 saves for the Devils (27-35-14), who lost their fourth straight game (0-2-2). The Devils are 2-12-4 in their past 18 games. Armia scored his third shorthanded goal of the season off a snap shot from the right circle that beat Schneider over the shoulder for a 3-3 tie 2:40 into the third period. Wheeler pulled the Jets within 3-2 when he deflected from the slot a wrist shot by defenseman Julian Melchiori at 16:36 of the second period. Noesen had given the Devils a 3-1 lead in the second period when he took a pass from Blake Pietila, fought off a check from Bryan Little and beat Hellebuyck between the pads at 15:27. Bennett and Hall scored in the first period to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. Bennett pushed a loose puck over the goal line for a 1-1 tie at 8:10. Hall scored on a breakaway for a 2-1 lead at 12:07. Ehlers gave the Jets a 1-0 lead 52 seconds into the game when he beat Schneider inside the right post.

* Hall took an outlet pass from Travis Zajac at center ice and broke in 1-on-1 before going backhand to forehand and putting the puck inside the left post.

"The Stanley Cup Playoffs are out of reach now so that stinks, but we're not just going to throw these last five games away. We decided to play the way we've been wanting to play and get better at the small things that we haven't done consistently this year. It feels good getting a win after being down." Nikolaj Ehlers
"I was kind of thinking about [the shot] on the way to the goal but then I decided when I saw him coming out so much, I thought I'd just make my move and it went in. I want to help us get four more wins to end the season and maybe a couple goals for myself, but if I don't score I'm not disappointed." Laine said.
"I just tried to get it deep but then guys started to fly past me. I don't think they were going for the body there, they were going for the puck. I saw [Adam] Lowry go to the net and was thinking pass for a moment but then saw some Devils players on him, so I saw a little opening on the short side." Armia said.
"[Ehlers] is a dynamic young man; he's learning where he can do the things he likes to do and when you can't. He's still learning how to do those things but he has an awful lot of speed." Paul Maurice said.
Anaheim Sucks @ Jets 3-4 OT - Thursday, March 30, 2017

The Anaheim Ducks had their Pacific Division lead reduced to one point with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. The Ducks (42-23-12) lead the Edmonton Oilers, who won 3-2 against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. The Sharks are three points behind. All three have five games remaining. Mark Scheifele got the winner at 3:34, his 30th goal of the season, after Dustin Byfuglien scored with 12 seconds remaining in the third period to tie the game 3-3. Joel Armia and Blake Wheeler also scored, and Michael Hutchinson made 25 saves for the Jets (36-35-7), who are 6-2-0 in their past eight games. Perry had two goals, Jakob Silfverberg one, and Jonathan Bernier made 37 saves for the Ducks, who had their five-game winning streak end.

* Scheifele rushed down the right side and cut to the middle, passing the puck to Byfuglien. Scheifele moved to the left circle and Byfuglien passed it back, and Scheifele's one-timer beating Bernier high.
* Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler broke his stick in the Jets zone and Armia took the puck the length of the ice, got muscled off it by Ryan Getzlaf in the corner, but won it back. He skated out and scored from a tight angle past Bernier.

"We decided to not just quit. We wanted to keep going and get the two points no matter that. We worked our [butts] off those last 20 minutes. It feels good now." Ehlers said.
"It's probably hard for you to understand how difficult this is to go through again at a time like this. The fact we're winning hockey games at this time of year with nothing to play for says a lot about the group that we have, the guys that we have." Blake Wheeler

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