McDavid doubles-up Jets, 2-1

In Edmonton, Connor McDavid struck for two goals in the middle frame on Thursday night, in a 2-1 win over the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

“Connor’s game has been really solid all year,” Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett said. “Even the Toronto games where he didn’t get on the score sheet, if you look at the chances he was creating, there was still lots to like about his game. When he capitalizes, people notice that more and he capitalizes a lot, so he has an impact on the game.”

Mikko Koskinen made 24 saves to get the win.

“I thought it was a great period,” McDavid said. “I would have liked to have maybe played in the offensive zone a little bit more; it’s tough to defend for 20 minutes like that. I thought we had our chances catching them coming the other way. You need to bear down when you have a team on the ropes like that and that third one can really hurt them.

“But I loved the way our team played. We were solid all over and I thought we really did a good job of clogging up the middle and our [defense] moved the pucks well, and Koskinen made the saves when he had to.”

Mathieu Perreault scored for the Jets in the second period, he tied the game at 1-1 after McDavid broke the ice.

“I think both teams beat the [heck] out of the puck tonight,” Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice said. “[We] were pretty good systematically, they battled hard, everybody worked real hard.”

The Jets dropped to 18-10-2.

“We know how skilled they are, so our game plan was to take the middle away and keep them on the outside and block some shots and play hard defensively, so usually this is kind of what happens,” Perreault said. “You don’t give up too many shots and they play a similar kind of game, so this is why you see a low-scoring game tonight.”

Laurent Brossoit made 19 saves in the loss.

“It’s pretty obvious you don’t want to give him any time and space,” Brossoit said. “When he does have it, he’s a pure goal scorer. He picked a good shot, a good spot.

“He’s got a deceptive release. I mean, you can complement him all you want, [but] it’s almost unnecessary. We all know it.”