WINNIPEG – Fans at the MTS Centre caught a nice glimpse of the future Tuesday night as the injury-riddled Winnipeg Jets had some very young faces in the lineup. Over the last few games and Tuesday especially, some of those young guys played huge roles in big home ice shutout win over the Vancouver Canucks, 2-0.
The Jets completed the season sweep over the Canucks winning all three games this year.
“It’s tough to go through,” Henrik Sedin said. “We’re all disappointed, there’s no question about that, but we still have to look at it as a process. It’s not going to change overnight. We have to keep doing the same things over and over, and the right things over and over, and it’s going to change.”
“We’re trying to build something that’s going to be good for the future, but it’s tough.”
Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves for his first shutout of the season to improve to 9-13-2 overall.
“They had some chances, but I think we played [well] defensively,” Pavelec said. “We didn’t give them much, so I’m happy for a win.”
Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom faced 48 Jets shots and stopped 47 of them playing an insane game kicking out shots that were sure goals. He was named the game’s first star in a losing effort.
“Going into the start of the [season], we really didn’t know what he had,” Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins said of the 26-year-old goalie. “But this whole [season] he has played well.”
The Jets had rookie Nic Petan playing up on the top line with Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele and he dazzled the crowd with numerous great moves and had five shots on goal playing over twenty minutes on his 21st birthday. Petan, who was sent down to the Manitoba Moose after starting the first month up with the Jets, has impressed many after his recent recall and is showing why he will be a key member of this team moving forward.
Adam Lowry got the Jets on the board with his sixth of the season after some great work from Matt Halischuk and Chris Thorburn. Mark Scheifele got his 24th an empty netter to seal the deal.
The Jets were also able to roll out four lines which was a big help in this solid win.
“Every team brings a set of circumstances to the rink,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We had to do certain things to be a good hockey team tonight. We did those. We were good.”
“To say that if we just play our game [each] night, it should look like that, that’s not realistic. They’ve got half of a hockey team out, and the meat of their team other than [Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin] is out of their lineup, and you saw that.”
Recent AHL call up Chase De Leo saw his second NHL game action and he looks like he will be a fan favorite in the future.
The Canucks were shutout for the third consecutive game and are struggling losing five straight.
“We didn’t have a lot of chances tonight,” Desjardins said, “but we have to capitalize on the ones we do get.”
The Jets will welcome the LA Kings to town on Thursday night and with all the youth in the lineup it should be a very exciting game and measuring stick for these young Jets.
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