In Buffalo, the visiting Winnipeg Jets entered the third period on Sunday looking up at 2-1 deficit to the Sabres. 
The Jets opted for the rally choice and scored four unanswered goals in the third for a 5-2 win.
Five different skaters hit for the Jets. All the third period scoring occurred in the back half of the frame.
Josh Morrissey scored just past the midway point of then third to tie the game, 2-2, after a turnover by the Sabres in the neutral zone. He took pass down low and skated from left to right for the goal.
Three minutes later Morgan Barron hit after a long shift when he outraced the Sabres to a loose puck in the neutral zone and scored from the right circle to put the Jets ahead, 3-2.
“We were stuck out in our zone for quite a while,” Barron said. “Eventually it went out Cole’s side and he made a really nice play to just get it by their [defense] and kind of some space opened up. I didn’t really have the steam left to kind of burn the guy wide. I just pulled up and let one go.”
Laurent Brossoit made 17 saves in the win.
The Jets moved to 39-16-5off their ninth win in 11 matches.
“There’s a lot of fight in this group,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “Again, the third periods in the three games are totally different. We weren’t that happy in Dallas (a 4-1 loss) but we knew yesterday afternoon in Carolina we were playing well. Stay with it. And the same as tonight. I know we were down 2-1 but we were playing really well. We were playing fast, we were creating turnovers, we were creating chances. Just stay in the fight.”
The Sabres took a 1-0 lead at 17:33 of the opening stanza on a power play strike by JJ Peterka.
“We made too many mistakes (in the third period),” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “It cost us. Lost some battles that you would like to have won and made some mistakes. That was the difference.”
The Jets tied the game with six seconds left in the frame for a 1-1 score headed to the middle frame. Nino Niederreiter scored from low in the slot to get the Jets on the board.
“Nino’s great around the net and he’s not afraid to go there, that whole line,” Morrissey said. “So I just tried to freeze the goalie and give it to him. He did the rest.”
The Sabres dropped to 29-29-4.
Eric Robinson scored midway through the second period to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead they were unable to hold.
“Just a nice play by ‘Krebsy’, kind of spinning around on the back end there to find me in the middle,” Robinson said.
Josh Morrissey and Vladislav Namestnikov hit for empty-net goals in the final two minutes of the game for the 5-2 final count on the scoreboard. 
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 30 saves in the loss.
“I don’t know if we were playing not to lose instead of trying to just go out there and play in the offensive zone and play defense by playing offense,” Robinson said. “It just felt like we were trying to hold onto it. You can’t do that against good teams.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.