VANCOUVER – The Winnipeg Jets needed to stop the bleeding of the losing skid and were in a tough position visiting Vancouver, a team chasing them in the standings . The Jets battled hard and lost a tough one, 3-2, in overtime. They at least took a point to remain two points up on both the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks in the standings.
“It’s the first good game we’ve played since the break,” Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. “I’m not talking about things being easy or nice or pretty but our fight was right on, our final five we were competing. It’s not an easy thing to go from the east coast to the west coast, five games in eight nights and I like that game. You hate the result. You hate losing a game that you fight so hard, but it’s fun on the bench. Guys are into the game, it’s a man’s game, it’s the way it should be played.”
Not to take anything away from this game but the story that was stealing the spotlight was that Coach Paul Maurice made Evander Kane a scratch just before game time. This sent shocks through the building with the media as Kane who is from Vancouver had spoken earlier in the day about how pumped he was to be playing in front of family and friends.
This is the second time in the last two seasons that Maurice has made Kane a coach’s decision scratch.
Ondrej Pavelec got the start in the net for Winnipeg and was on his game as he stopped 30 of 33 Canuck shots to help his team at least get one point. His record now stands at 12-11-7 on the season.
Eddie Lack was in the pipes for Vancouver his first action since Jan.13 and he showed no signs of rust as he made 26 saves on 28 shots including a couple of breakaway stops.
“Some guys took the All-Star break to rest, I took it to work on some stuff,” Lack said. “I’m feeling a lot more comfortable out there. Big night.”
The Jets returned to somewhat more of their regular style of game as they were tighter defensively and used their size and speed to create a lot of turnovers on the forecheck. Things were probably crazy for them when they found out about Kane not being the line up as they had to juggle things moving Dustin Byfuglien up front and inserting Adam Pardy in on the blue line.
The Jets, who seemed to be marked by the refs, did give the Vancouver Canucks six power play chances but there penalty killers were perfect tonight. A disallowed goal from Adam Lowry in the second period as Jacob Trouba was called for his incidental contact with goalie as he clipped the pads of Lack when tried to jump over. This was tough to swallow but they happen.
Winnipeg got goals from Blake Wheeler who scored his 15th of the season on a breakaway, Bryan Little got his 20th, a power play marker.
Vancouver got goals from Alex Burrows his 11th, Ronalds Kenins his 3rd, Luca Sbisa his 4th the OT winner.
“You don’t want to leave the OT with regrets,” Sbisa said. “Just go out there and try to win, don’t play scared to lose. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t, but I think you’ve got to try something in OT.”
The Jets will head home for a couple important division battles that are now must wins just like every game down the stretch.
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