In Winnipeg, Karel Vejmelka made 46 saves in a 1-0 win for the Arizona Coyotes over the Jets, on Monday night.
Vejmelka, was 1-9-1 in his first 13 games this season.
“It was a special moment for me, for a shutout,” Vejmelka said. “We played every single minute well, like a team. My teammates did a really great job, and the defense blocked a lot of shots and it’s a big part of this win. It was a team win and we’ll just keep going.
“I couldn’t imagine this start for me. It’s something that I was dreaming about. It’s unreal for me. Like I said, I just enjoy every minute here and try to play 100 percent and try to win every game I play.”
Antoine Roussel hot for the game’s goal at 17:59 of the middle frame.
“Thank God we had [Vejmelka],” Arizona head coach Andre Tourigny said. “I think we did a lot of good things in terms of grinding and working and playing with urgency, but our execution wasn’t at its top, for sure.”
The Jets dropped to 10-8-4.
“When you go through tough times, that’s when you find out what you’re made of,” Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler said. “If you just coast through the season and score goals at will, you’re going to get punched in the mouth in the playoffs. How are you going to deal with it? I think our group going through some adversity and learning how to win games without relying on the offense, that is going to make us grow a lot.”
Winnipeg has lost six of their last seven games, 1-5-1.
“I’m really proud of our group,” the Coyotes’ Christian Fischer said. “Gosh that felt good. That was a grind, a mucky win. [Vejmelka], obviously, all credit goes to him. What a performance, and well deserved.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 14 saves in the Winnipeg loss.
“I don’t think our best chances may have hit the net,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “We had some really good ones that we missed out on, and we’ve got to get a little heavier net front. Those are the basics of your offensive game. But you get into those situations where you’ve got the puck and it’s traffic and there’s not an easy place to put it [on net]. You keep it to the outside more. But it’s net front that will be the place that things will start going for you.”
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