Tuesday night was a bizarre one in downtown Winnipeg. A Blake Wheeler hat trick and a Connor Hellebuyck shutout led the way for on-ice accomplishments, while a broken Zamboni, a fan struck in the head with a puck, and an in-arena fist fight leading to an arrest surely left fans at Canada Life Centre in a state of bewilderment.
After an early-season overtime loss at home to the same Jets, the Avalanche were certainly out for revenge in their first of two matchups with Winnipeg in Manitoba.
But Tuesday certainly wasn't their night.
“I thought we played a really good game," winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck said post-game. "The details were right. I think we improved throughout the game and we really stuck to our game and we were patient. So, I mean, a lot of the things we wanted to do, we did.”
Both teams entered the game quite hot, with Colorado going 8-2-0 in its last 10 games played, while Winnipeg came in having picked up seven wins in its past 10. Near-identical records had the Jets (13-6-1) and Avalanche (12-6-1) just one game apart near the top of the Central Division.
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If the pre-game warmup was any indication, Tuesday's tilt was certainly one that very well could go off the wires. A broken Zamboni was the first sign that things may be a little haywire, before an elderly fan was struck directly in the head by an Avalanche dump-in early in the frame. After getting some attention for his wounds, the fan made his way back to his seat, no worse for wear.
Winnipeg got things going early, scoring the first goal of the game just 20 seconds into its first man advantage of the contest. With Jean-Luc Foudy in the box for tripping, Blake Wheeler took matters into his own hands, as he grabbed the puck, turned around and fired it right past Alexandar Georgiev low, blocker side. Josh Morrissey picked up another assist on the play, making him the fastest Jets defenceman to 20 assists in a season, doing so in 21 games (Byfuglien, 25 games).
Although being outshot 9-4 through 20 minutes, the Jets maintained a 1-0 lead in a period that seemed a lot closer than the shot tally suggested.
The next instance of funny business came early in the second period. With Mark Scheifele thinking he had his 12th of the season on a tap-in from another Morrissey setup, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar challenged the play for the goaltender interference. After a lengthy review, the officials turned the play over and ruled Wheeler had made contact with Georgiev before the puck crossed the goal line, keeping it 1-0.
"I’m going to the net and there’s a little bit of a battle," Wheeler said. "I don’t think I made, I didn’t feel any contact. I was outside the blue paint. My opinion he started scrambling because he heard it hit the post and he was looking for the puck. That’s how I saw it. Obviously we’re biased over here. But more importantly the response was correct.”
Later, it was a goalmouth scramble, to which the officiating crew would not blow their whistles, no matter who did or didn't cover the puck. It ended up squirting to the goal-line, but Hellebuyck and his defenders maintained their wall in the blue paint.
It didn't take long for the Jets to get one back following the overturned play. This time it was a perfect blast from Morrissey, blasting a slapper through a Perfetti/Wheeler screen, putting Winnipeg back up 2-0.
“Last year was kind of the coming out party a little bit," Wheeler said of Morrissey. "And now he’s establishing himself as a premiere defenceman in the NHL. We’ve seen it, we’ve seen a lot of it here throughout the years. Last year we saw it pretty consistently. He’s certainly elevated his game. We’re certainly proud of the way he’s playing.”
The third Jets goal also came off the stick of Wheeler, on a perfect passing play from all three forwards on the ice. Mark Schefiele found Cole Perfetti, who slipped the puck cross crease to Wheeler for the simple tap-in.
“He’s got great vision and the more he plays, the more confidence he’s getting to make those plays," coach Rick Bowness said of Perfetti's pass to Wheeler. "There’s a timing involved in all of that. You’ve got to understand there’s timing on that, of when to spin and when to pass it and he has that ability. If you watched it, it’s not a panic, it’s not a hard pass, it’s not behind him, it’s on the tape. So there’s a timing that comes with that and with it comes an offensive mind and an IQ that he has.”
Despite being outshot 25-14 through 40 minutes, Winnipeg proved that quality can certainly mean more than quantity, especially when it comes to shot totals.
The third period started with a bang. And that bang? A heavy sucker punch to the face of one Jets fan from a female Avalanche supporter. After causing quite the blood stain on the dasher-board, the fan fought with members of the Winnipeg Police despite being dragged up the steps in handcuffs.
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1597792867053105153
Following the second delayed period start of the night, the Jets found a way to put the broken Zamboni and injured fans behind them, rallying for a fourth goal, just 1:22 into the final frame. Kyle Connor dished the puck to Mark Scheifele at the goal mouth, who found his 12th of the season - this time, officially.
And that was almost enough to put Colorado out of its misery.
Almost.
With 3:51 to go, Blake Wheeler completed the hat trick, scoring his third of the game on Georgiev, making it a 5-0 game as hats rained down at Canada Life Centre.
“He’s been our best player all year," Wheeler said of Hellebuyck. "You talk about Josh elevating his game. For a guy whose won a Vezina and been second before, this is the best I’ve seen him play. He’s been the backbone of our team for a long time. He’s just taken his game to another level and given us an opportunity to win every night.”
Connor Hellebuyck completed his third shutout of the season, turning aside all 40 shots on the night, while Georgiev made just 19 stops on 24 Jets shots.
"This doesn’t really feel like a job right now," Hellebuyck added. "It feels like we are all just enjoying ourselves and enjoying the ride and not getting ahead of ourselves, one day at a time and that’s what it feels like in here.”
Next up for Winnipeg is a Friday night battle with the Columbus Blue Jackets, before finishing off the four-game homestand with tests against sunbelt teams Anaheim and Florida into the first half of next week. All three games can be viewed live on TSN. Friday's game will get underway at 7:00 PM.
Winnipeg got things going early, scoring the first goal of the game just 20 seconds into its first man advantage of the contest. With Jean-Luc Foudy in the box for tripping, Blake Wheeler took matters into his own hands, as he grabbed the puck, turned around and fired it right past Alexandar Georgiev low, blocker side. Josh Morrissey picked up another assist on the play, making him the fastest Jets defenceman to 20 assists in a season, doing so in 21 games (Byfuglien, 25 games).
Although being outshot 9-4 through 20 minutes, the Jets maintained a 1-0 lead in a period that seemed a lot closer than the shot tally suggested.
The next instance of funny business came early in the second period. With Mark Scheifele thinking he had his 12th of the season on a tap-in from another Morrissey setup, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar challenged the play for the goaltender interference. After a lengthy review, the officials turned the play over and ruled Wheeler had made contact with Georgiev before the puck crossed the goal line, keeping it 1-0.
"I’m going to the net and there’s a little bit of a battle," Wheeler said. "I don’t think I made, I didn’t feel any contact. I was outside the blue paint. My opinion he started scrambling because he heard it hit the post and he was looking for the puck. That’s how I saw it. Obviously we’re biased over here. But more importantly the response was correct.”
Later, it was a goalmouth scramble, to which the officiating crew would not blow their whistles, no matter who did or didn't cover the puck. It ended up squirting to the goal-line, but Hellebuyck and his defenders maintained their wall in the blue paint.
It didn't take long for the Jets to get one back following the overturned play. This time it was a perfect blast from Morrissey, blasting a slapper through a Perfetti/Wheeler screen, putting Winnipeg back up 2-0.
“Last year was kind of the coming out party a little bit," Wheeler said of Morrissey. "And now he’s establishing himself as a premiere defenceman in the NHL. We’ve seen it, we’ve seen a lot of it here throughout the years. Last year we saw it pretty consistently. He’s certainly elevated his game. We’re certainly proud of the way he’s playing.”
The third Jets goal also came off the stick of Wheeler, on a perfect passing play from all three forwards on the ice. Mark Schefiele found Cole Perfetti, who slipped the puck cross crease to Wheeler for the simple tap-in.
“He’s got great vision and the more he plays, the more confidence he’s getting to make those plays," coach Rick Bowness said of Perfetti's pass to Wheeler. "There’s a timing involved in all of that. You’ve got to understand there’s timing on that, of when to spin and when to pass it and he has that ability. If you watched it, it’s not a panic, it’s not a hard pass, it’s not behind him, it’s on the tape. So there’s a timing that comes with that and with it comes an offensive mind and an IQ that he has.”
Despite being outshot 25-14 through 40 minutes, Winnipeg proved that quality can certainly mean more than quantity, especially when it comes to shot totals.
The third period started with a bang. And that bang? A heavy sucker punch to the face of one Jets fan from a female Avalanche supporter. After causing quite the blood stain on the dasher-board, the fan fought with members of the Winnipeg Police despite being dragged up the steps in handcuffs.
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1597792867053105153
Following the second delayed period start of the night, the Jets found a way to put the broken Zamboni and injured fans behind them, rallying for a fourth goal, just 1:22 into the final frame. Kyle Connor dished the puck to Mark Scheifele at the goal mouth, who found his 12th of the season - this time, officially.
And that was almost enough to put Colorado out of its misery.
Almost.
With 3:51 to go, Blake Wheeler completed the hat trick, scoring his third of the game on Georgiev, making it a 5-0 game as hats rained down at Canada Life Centre.
“He’s been our best player all year," Wheeler said of Hellebuyck. "You talk about Josh elevating his game. For a guy whose won a Vezina and been second before, this is the best I’ve seen him play. He’s been the backbone of our team for a long time. He’s just taken his game to another level and given us an opportunity to win every night.”
Connor Hellebuyck completed his third shutout of the season, turning aside all 40 shots on the night, while Georgiev made just 19 stops on 24 Jets shots.
"This doesn’t really feel like a job right now," Hellebuyck added. "It feels like we are all just enjoying ourselves and enjoying the ride and not getting ahead of ourselves, one day at a time and that’s what it feels like in here.”
Next up for Winnipeg is a Friday night battle with the Columbus Blue Jackets, before finishing off the four-game homestand with tests against sunbelt teams Anaheim and Florida into the first half of next week. All three games can be viewed live on TSN. Friday's game will get underway at 7:00 PM.
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