WINNIPEG – The Jets were coming off a big shutout win over the Vancouver Canucks, but were now facing one of the best teams in the NHL, the Los Angeles Kings, who have been struggling losing two straight heading into Thursday night. The Jets got some timely saves early on and gutted out a big 4-1 home ice victory to send the Kings home on a three-game losing streak.
“We’re not happy in here, and we need to fix things really quickly,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “You can’t be losing three games in a row at any time in the season. It’s really frustrating that we did this, and we need to fix things, and we need to get winning hockey games because right now we’re blowing our spot at the top of the division and near the top of the [Western Conference].”
Ondrej Pavelec got the start in goal for Winnipeg and he made 33 saves including five huge stops in the opening frame to keep the game scoreless and allow his team to get things rolling. Pavelec has looked solid in his last two starts. Thursday he was the game’s first star.
The Kings opened the scoring on the power play as their captain, Anze Kopitar, ripped a wicked wrist shot past Pavelec for his 25th of the season.
“If we could have scored the second goal, it’s probably a different deal,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “That’s the way it goes.”
The Jets used a strong penalty kill after giving up the special team’s goal to gain momentum as Chris Thorburn was given a roughing call with five minutes to go in the second period, a call the fans and his teammates disagreed with and it turned out to be the turning point as the Jets got the tying goal after the kill as Adam Lowry converted a Matt Halischuk feed for his seventh of the year.
“It just shows that we care,” Byfuglien said. “We want to win. We’re not quitting.”
Winnipeg would explode for three goals in the third as Dustin Byfuglien blasted his 17th, Â Paul Postma his second and Drew Stafford his 20th into an empty net.
“We had a really good goaltender,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We were at least able to get better because we were not very good for the first two periods of that hockey game. The positive out of the game is that the fans got to see a win.”
Mark Sheifele and Blake Wheeler each had two helpers on the night and both played key roles in the win.
The Jets welcomed back some familiar faces who had been injured as Nik Ehlers, Mark Stuart and Joel Armia all returned.
“They were dominant for the first two periods,” Pavelec said. “We found a way to win in the third. It’s a great win for us.”
Earlier in the day it was learned that Tyler Myers would be shut down and have knee and hip surgery on some nagging problems.
Winnipeg will head out to Buffalo and then Philadelphia before returning home.
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