Brossoit, Jets blank Ducks, 6-0 Brossoit gets second straight shutout

In Winnipeg, the Jets shellacked the visiting Anaheim Ducks, 6-0 on Friday night.

Newly acquired Tyler Toffoli hit for a double in the Jets win.

“Definitely a special moment, and obviously nice to get my first one here, and hopefully keep rolling,” Toffoli said. “[The crowd] was awesome. I got a little taste of it in our first game, with the standing ovation too.”

Laurent Brossoit made 21 saves for the shutout.

“It’s feeling pretty good, and then obviously, the team in front of me,” Brossoit said of not allowing a goal in 150:40 (since 9:20 of the second period in a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on March 3). “I’m going to try to not to get too high on these, because you know the opponents that I was playing in those two (Seattle and Anaheim) — have to be honest with myself and make sure that I’m not getting too casual, and because both games my team played phenomenal in front of me.”

Winnipeg improved to 42-19-5.

Kyle Connor staked the Jets to a 1-0 lead at 16:20 of the opening stanza, scoring off a tip in at the net.

Nate Schmidt extended the advantage to 2-0 at 7:47 of the middle frame, scoring off the power play on another deflection goal.

The Ducks dropped to 23-41-3 off their fifth straight loss.

“There’s really no excuse for giving up the grade-A [chances] that we did in that third period,” Anaheim’s Troy Terry said. “When I say it’s unacceptable to give those up, it’s mostly to him [Gibson]. He’s been that guy for us for years now, and he’s our backbone and the team kind of runs through him, and it’s kind of unfair to leave him out to dry like that. Even just staying out of the box and stop giving up power plays or clearing out in front of him. I mean, some of these he just has no chance, and it’s really unfair to him.”

With most of the heart of the Ducks already gutted weeks ago, the third period was a push over for the Jet where they scored four times.

Dylan DeMelo  stretched the lead for the Jets to 3-0 at 4:59.

Toffoli scored his double in the third period, pushing the lead for the Jets to 5-0. He scored off the power play at 8:07, and again at 11:05, scoring off a deflection for the 5-0 score.

“We had a discussion as a group,” Toffoli said. It’s one of those things where we’ve got to try and find the consistency. We’ve got a really big road trip coming up here. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be good for our group.”

Mason Appleton ballooned the lead to 6-0 at 19:54 with an excuse me shot.

“We did a lot of good things in those first couple of periods,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “I thought we managed the puck so much better tonight (compared to a 4-2 loss against the Nashville Predators Wednesday). Going through the neutral zone, we made the right decisions at their blue line. … They’re a tired team, there’s no question, so give them credit. We hung onto the puck and were able to make some plays, but the biggest thing was the puck management going through that neutral zone and making the right decision at the blue line. When you do that, you play so much faster.”

John Gibson made 32 saves in another loss without any support from his offense or defense.

The Ducks were down to 18 skaters in the game, 11 forwards and seven defensemen.  The short bench did little to keep them in the game.

“It was a tight game for two periods,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. “It was like nine-to-six for scoring chances. It was close in shots. And the third period… you could feel [the Jets] feeling a little bit more confident. I think they were playing a smart game protecting the lead. Then it’s 3-0 and we don’t have a full lineup, so for us to come back from a 3-0 lead is difficult. Then that faceoff goal (Toffoli’s first) was just like, they went [up] and we went [down].”