In Winnipeg, the Jets scored four goals in the third period to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-4, on Tuesday night.
Mark Scheifele hit for a goal and four points in the win.
“We have guys in the right spots,” Scheifele said. “We’ve found some consistency being in the right spots. Our D were moving really well tonight. That opens up seams, that opens up other guys and gets them on the run, so I liked that part of it. I think we have to see more of that.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves in the Jets win.
“We played our game for 60 minutes tonight,” Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said. “We created the way that we wanted to. We made a couple cross-ice passes that fueled their game. But we talked about how we’d have to play the rest of the way home to give ourselves a chance. We were going to have to play direct, we were going to have to play in straight lines, and we did that. We stayed with it.”
Both teams scored three times in the opening frame.
“If you look at pretty much every one of their goals tonight it was from two, three feet right in front of [Vasilevskiy],” Tampa Bay’s Ryan McDonagh said. “It was not good enough, not strong enough in front of him there, and that’s where the goals are scored. We certainly didn’t play hard enough defensively around the blue paint, and we paid the price tonight.”
Tampa dropped to 37-13-6.
Scheifele and Adam Lowry scored in the first period to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.
McDonagh, Alex Killorn, and Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning in the first period.
“How many times now in a row have we started behind in a game having to claw ourselves back,” McDonagh said. “It’s not ideal and it’s not winning hockey. We need to individually look at ourselves, change it up and do something different to get ourselves mentally engaged, playing with some pace and playing with some determination to start a game, at least not give ourselves a hole to climb out of.”
Pierre-Luc Dubois (power play)Â and Kyle Connor opened the scoring in the final frame for a 5-3 lead to the Jets.
“That’s a heck of a move on a very good goalie,” Lowry said of Connor’s goal. “I really believe it is just quickness and being comfortable in our reads. Real good reads. And there are some guys that have some speed that can jump on a puck and take off.”
Josh Morrissey continued the run with an empty-net goal to 6-3, before Ross Colton scored for the Lightning.
“No question, we’re in a funk right now,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “Everybody has just got to dig a little deeper and get yourself out of it. Are the starts concerning? There’s no question, but hitting the panic button with this team? Not a chance. You have some tough nights. We just happen to have a few in a row, and it really hasn’t shown up in the win-loss column, but we haven’t played our best.”
Paul Stastny‘s second goal of the game came on an empty-net hit for the 7-4 final.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves in the Tampa loss.
“We’re hurting ourselves,” Tampa Bay’s Pat Maroon said. “We’re turning pucks over, we’re chasing in the D-zone, we’re not talking in the D-zone, we’re not communicating, we’re not breaking the puck out clean.”
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