The Winnipeg Jets throttled up on Sunday across the bench for a complete game, 5-0 win over the visiting Ottawa Senators Sunday.
Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to get the win in his first shutout of the season.
Blake Wheeler is among the hottest of the Jets and is now fourth in the NHL scoring race; he has 35 points after a goal and three assists Sunday.
“It’s December,” Wheeler said. “We’re not slapping ourselves on the back. We’re excited about where our team is at. It’s the best we’ve done since we’ve been back in Winnipeg.”
The Jets were neither gloating nor celebrating too much after the win.
“We’ll absolutely leave this one here,” Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice said. “That wasn’t Ottawa’s best game. I’ve watched them play now. They’re capable of some better hockey. So it was just a 60-minute, two-pointer. We forget this one as fast as we played it.”
Mathieu Perreault, Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine, and Tyler Myers added goals in the rout.
“Maybe one of the most dominating performances I’ve been part of in this league, to be honest,” Perreault said. “From the first minute, we took over the game. I think, at one point, the shots 40-something to 15. We were in their end the whole game. Our gap was tremendous. We didn’t give them nothing.”
[WATCH: All Senators vs. Jets highlights]
Mike Condon got the starts for the Sens and allowed 17 saves in yielded all five Jets goals.
“I just thought we were going to get a much better pushback and a much better shooting mentality,” Senators head coach Guy Boucher said. “That’s what we’ve got to go back to. We’ve got the guys to be able to do that.”
He was given the hook in the middle frame and replaced by Craig Anderson who made 27 saves the rest of the way.
Ottawa is in a tail spin of its own these days and is 1-7-1 in their last nine games.
Wheeler now leads the league in assists with 28.
“They showed it on the board and guys started saying stuff and whatever. It’s not what I’m out here trying to do, to be honest with you. It’s about trying to play how we’re trying to play every single night,” Wheeler said of the ranking thus far.
You must be logged in to post a comment.