ST.PAUL, Minn – With the season pretty much on the line for the Winnipeg Jets, deadlocked in a three-team battle for the final wild card spot in the West, the resurgence of Ondrej Pavelec continued as he made a statement Monday night shutting out the Minnesota Wild 2-0 keeping his Jets alive in the ever so tight playoff race.
“I thought everybody was involved,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “In the end, it was our discipline. We played a real smart hockey game and stayed out of the scrums.”
Pavelec had some help from the posts as the Wild hit a couple but he was a wall back there as he stopped 32 shots including more than a couple off the stick of red hot sniper Thomas Vanek. Pavelec was named the game’s first star as he improves to 21-16-7 on the season.
Devan Dubnyk played a great game in net for the Wild as he stopped 32 shots giving up two goals in a rare loss for him. His record falls to 35-13-4 overall.
The Jets and Wild played another tight checking hard-hitting affair as both teams play a strong forechecking, tight defensive game.
“I could tell we were ramped up, right from the start,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “You need to play the game with emotion, but you have to make sure you’re controlling it too.
“We use the word unflappable and I think that tonight we didn’t necessarily have that.”
It was the final game of the season series between these two division rivals and with the win the Jets take the season series, 3-2. The Jets came flying out the gates as they took the play to the Wild in the first and came away with a power play marker for a 1-0 lead. More of the same in the second although the Wild made more of a push , and in the third Pavelec stood tall and the jets survived some heavy Wild pressure.
“We have to win, we know that,” said Wild forward Thomas Vanek. “Sometimes, I think this team plays better in a must-win situation. Maybe it’s good for us to get back on the road where we don’t get so pumped up before and don’t start so well.”
Jets goal scorers were Blake Wheeler who got his 26th of the season on a lucky bounce off a Wild defender on the power play, Drew Stafford ripped his 17th from Tyler Myers and Mark Scheifele.
“This is a team that is going to try and draw us into doing stuff,” Wheeler said. “We don’t back out from much out there, but there’s something to be said for keeping your composure this time of year. If you have to take a punch every once in a while like [Stuart] did at the beginning of the game to lead to a power-play goal, those are the things that lead to wins.”
Ben Chiarot got back in the lineup for Winnipeg as Toby Enstrom is out with an upper body injury and after missing 17 games with his own injury he looked great playing just under 16 minutes being paired with Tyler Myers.
With another game Tuesday night in St. Louis, the Jets will quickly put this one behind them and get ready for another huge game.
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