WINNIPEG – Pekka Rinne picked a good time to break out of his slump as he had allowed 15 goals in his last four starts and looking nowhere near the goalie he has been the past few seasons. Thursday night he looked like his old self as he helped backstop his Nashville Predators to a 4-1 road win in front of 15,294 Winnipeg Jets fans who were hoping for a different outcome at the MTS Centre.
Pekka Rinne flashed old form in win over Jets – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“Hard work, especially on the road,” Rinne said. “I know it sounds [very] simple, but it’s just the way it is. It’s really the simple things, but I think that’s what it comes down to when you win on the road.”
The Jets see themselves six points out of a playoff spot and not doing themselves any favors by being beaten by the teams they are chasing for that final wildcard spot.
“Clearly we’re in a tough spot here now the losses that are mounting here at home,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said.
Injuries have not helped the Jets as they have been playing without Mark Sheifele , Drew Stafford, and Adam Lowry and Thursday Alex Burmistrov was unable to go as well, four regular forwards not in the lineup will hurt any team.
Rinne stopped 26 of 27 shots the Jets put his way including a couple huge stops off a Chris Thorburn breakaway and a Nik Ehlers back door shot. Rinne was named the game’s first star.
“It was a great team win, and a good way to start off what is going to be a tough road trip,” Predators forward James Neal said. “It was a huge win.
“It just seems to be a battle every time we play [Winnipeg]. They’re huge points, and they’re [Stanley Cup] Playoff-like games. [Each team] is fighting for its playoff lives, so you’ve got to do everything you can to grab a point, grab two.”
Nik Ehlers got the Jets on the board early in the first as he was sprung by a sweet dish from Joel Armia and Ehlers ripped his ninth off the glove of Rinne to give the Jets a 1-0 lead. Nashville ties things up with just under four minutes to go in the first on the power play as Ryan Johansen snuck his ninth past Connor Hellebuyck to tie things at 1-1.
Mark Stuart of the Jets and Cody Bass of the Predators dropped the mitts in the first after Stuart lowered the boom on Preds forward Mike Fisher. Bass came over and ended up with the decision in this bout.
After some real good Jets pressure in the second, Craig Smith scored his 10th beating Hellebuyck high with a weak goal that Hellebuyck wishes he had back. With the Jets pressing late in the third James Neal scored his 17th and Calle Jarnkrok added his seventh into an empty net to give the Predators a 4-1 win.
“[The power play] didn’t get the job done for us,” said Jets defenseman Tyler Myers, who plays on both special teams. “It is something that we have been addressing, but we’re just going to continue to have to work hard at it.
“You can survive a bad power play, but we’ve been giving [up] too much on the penalty kill. I think that’s the bigger issue.”
The Jets will look to get some of the walking wounded back in the lineup for Saturday’s game against the Devils and then will host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday before the All Star Break.
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