PITTSBURGH – Riding a five-game winning streak the Winnipeg Jets came into Pittsburgh with high hopes although the Penguins had a six-game winning streak against the Jets and a 14-game unbeaten streak at home versus the Jets/Thrashers dating back to March 2007. The Penguins were missing key components in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin who were both out due to injuries. The Penguins continued their dominance and ended the Jets’ streak with a 5-3 win.
The Jets, who have been jumping on teams early with fast starts, have struggled a bit lately with that and it continued tonight as the Penguins controlled most of the play early on and kept the visitors hemmed in their own end for most of the opening frame. The Jets got the legs going in the second period and were creating a lot of chances but were still giving up lots and had an unlucky break late in the period as they were the victims of a possible to many men missed penalty that resulted in a late goal by the Penguins.
Ondrej Pavelec got the start and he stopped 25 of 29 shots taking the loss. His record falls to 12-11-6 on the season.
Thomas Greiss got the nod for Pittsburgh and made 19 saves off 22 shots a relatively easy win for him as he wasn’t very busy. He improves to 5-2-3 on the season.
Winnipeg got goals from Chris Thorburn his 4th, Jacob Trouba his 5th, Adam Lowry his 6th.
Pittsburgh goal scorers were Nick Spaling with his 7th, Steve Downie got his 9th ,David Perron his 11th, Brandon Sutter his 10th, Patric Hornqvist scored his 14th an empty netter.
“It’s nice to get the first one out of the way,” Hornqvist said. “Obviously, missing a month, you lose a lot of details in your game and it’s nice to get the first out of the way and get the big win and hopefully we get better here every game.”
The Penguins got a big night from Kris Letang as he had five assists and was named the game’s first star.
“The main thing is the win,” Letang said. “I think the last time we played against them, they banged us pretty hard. They were finishing all of their checks, and again that’s what they tried to do. They tried to be physical on us and get us off our game, but everybody stuck to it.”
He made some really smooth plays and always seems to get his shots through to the net on the power play.
“When he’s skating like that, he can jump up into the play and then he can get back,” Johnston said. “That’s what he did tonight. He had a great balance to his game, and when he was going back for a couple of pucks there in the third period, they’re a heavy forechecking team, it’s tough when you’re going back for pucks like that, and I just thought every decision he made, he made with speed and he made it quick.”
The Jets did have a bright spot in this game as the line of Evander Kane , Lowry, and Thorburn played really well as they accounted for seven points , Lowry and Thorburn had a goal and assist each with Kane picking up 3 assists. All three were also throwing their weight around all game.
“I don’t think our gap control was really good,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of pressure on the puck. We ended up leaving a lot of shots in the middle, off shots from the wing.”
For two teams who don’t play each other much they sure played an intense physical game as there were lots of big hits thrown out there. These two teams do not like each other.
The Jets will head to face the Flyers and look to get a win on Thursday night.
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The Jets got goals from
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