In Winnipeg, the Jets defeated the visiting Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1, and in so doing set a franchise record for their eighth straight win.
“They made it very hard for us tonight and they did get us frustrated,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “I give the guys a lot of credit because they bounced back and they played the way we have to play in the third period. We got the two points, and that’s the most important thing.”
Laurent Brossoit made 20 saves in the win.
The Jets improved to 28-9-4.
“It’s obviously a cool feat that this group is able to accomplish — at the same time, it really doesn’t mean anything,” Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “We’re off to a great start and playing well through the first half of the year. We’re really excited about that and what we’re building here through our team game, our structure and our commitment to [defense] and depth. As far as the winning streak goes, of course we’re excited about it, but it doesn’t really matter. We’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
After a scoreless opening stanza, Connor Murphy staked the Blackhawks to a 1-0 lead at 4:19 of the middle frame.
The Blackhawks dropped to 2-28-2.
“I think, subconsciously, you back off and try to protect the 1-0 lead, and then preserve it and try to get to overtime when they tie it up,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “They just kept coming. Unfortunately, they got the breaks at the end that they created for themselves, and we came away with nothing again and that’s frustrating. In the last two games we played very well and came away with no points.”
The Jets were held off the board until Gabriel Vilardi tied the game at 16:31 of the third period.
“Resiliency,” the Jets’ Josh Morrissey said. “We kept battling. We’re comfortable in those one-goal, low-scoring games. We’ve played a lot of them this year. Just a good character win for us. But as I said, you can’t look at the standings in that game. They pushed us.”
The Jets picked up the game-winner off the stick of Nikolaj Ehlers at 18:55.
“The way that we played in the third, we didn’t let them breathe, it was bound to go in,” Ehlers said. “We didn’t like the way that we played in the second period. Frustrations kicked in.”
Petr Mrazek made 26 saves in the loss.
“It’s unacceptable on our part to give up goals and Grade A chances in the last 10 minutes, five minutes,” Murphy said. “It’s just terrible on our part as players. [Mrazek] made big saves, too. We even had a chance when we were giving up big ones, and then we kept giving up big ones and we paid for it.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.