"It’s back," head coach Rick Bowness said post-game when asked about the return of the Jets' swagger. "It gets very frustrating for the players when the puck isn’t going in. They’re making plays, they’re starting to feel good to see that puck finally going in the net for them. We love the fact they’re making those great plays, the D are involved, and that’s how we want to play. It feels good for the guys. I’m happy for the guys to see the puck finally go in the net for them.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck came within 13.9 seconds of his fourth shutout of the season, as the Devils scored very late on the power play to erase their goose egg.
Entering the game just two points up on Calgary, Winnipeg's two-game, 12-goal explosion couldn't have come at a better time.
"We’re building our playoff game and if it looks like that I think we’re going to be pretty happy in here," Hellebuyck said post-game.“We’re blocking a lot of shots, we’re supporting each other, and we’re committing to that team play, and it’s all the difference right now.”
Building off of that Friday contest, the Jets opened and closed Sunday’s game in a similar fashion. It was actually the first time in 20 games that Winnipeg had begun back-to-back games with a lead.
After Nino Niederreiter got stopped on an early breakaway, Winnipeg was able to get one by Vitek Vanecek to open the scoring. It came off the stick of red-hot Nikolaj Ehlers just 4:59 into the game.
Niederreiter kept the good times rolling with his second marker in as many games, giving the Jets a quick 2-0 lead before the period came to an end. After failing to score on a power play, Adam Lowry prevented a New Jersey break up-ice with a strong neutral zone play, which led directly to Ehlers’ 11th goal of the season. He stole the puck off the stick of a Devils’ player before getting it to Vladislav Namestnikov. He flipped it to Blake Wheeler, whose rebound landed on the stick of Niederreiter for an easy tap-in for his 24th of the year.
Winnipeg outshot New Jersey 13-7 in the opening 20, before rallying for two more goals in the middle stanza. Although being outshot in the frame, the Jets doubled their lead to 4-0 as the third period approached.
Just three minutes in, Morgan Barron gave Winnipeg a 3-0 lead on a penalty shot marker after being hauled down on a partial break. The goal came less than 10 seconds after Namestnikov rattled a shot off the near post. For Barron, it was his eighth of the season, and it also marked the first time in their 12-year history back in Winnipeg that the Jets recorded two penalty shot goals in a single season. The other came off the stick of Dubois late in December.
“He only brings it out against opposing goalies," Hellebuyck laughed post-game when asked if Barron had ever tested that move on him in practice. "No, that was a beautiful move and he earned it.”
The fourth Jets goal was a milestone marker for Kyle Connor, who hammered home a one-timer from the slot on a setup play from Dubois. The 4-0 dagger came with 9:26 to go, giving Winnipeg 10 goals in a span of 90 minutes after a sensationally dry spell through the month of March.
With Timo Meier looking on from the penalty box, Ehlers finished things off with his second of the game off a nice pass from Mark Scheifele, sealing the deal on second-straight game with six goals scored.
"We had a couple teams come in here on back to backs and we’ve been able to rest a little bit," Wheeler reflected. "Yeah, hopefully we can keep that momentum going in the right direction and going forward.”
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The Jets fell victim to a late game power play goal from the Devils, allowing New Jersey to ruin the shutout with less than 14 seconds left int he game. But either way, he turned aside 31 shots and improved his record to 34-24-2 in what was his league-high 60th start of the season. Vanecek made 17 stops on 21 shots before being yanked for Blackwood, who allowed two goal on the six shots he faced.
"We needed some saves, and he was outstanding," Bowness said of his goaltender. "Obviously everyone is hoping for that shutout and it’s unfortunate we didn’t get it. But we talk about timely goals, we got them tonight. We got a lot of timely saves from Connor."
Winnipeg will continue its season-long five-game homestand with an uber important test with the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. Entering the night just two points back of the Jets, both teams are in do or die mode with just a handful of games remaining on the schedule. Another equally important four-point game will be Winnipeg's test with Nashville on Saturday, before the Jets close out the home schedule with a game against San Jose on Monday. All three games can be found live on Sportsnet.
"They’re veterans, they know," Bowness said. "They know what we’re up against. We have to keep winning. So you enjoy tonight. They’ll have a day off tomorrow because we’ve been on the ice a lot. We’ll have a good practice. We know the importance of Wednesday’s game, so we want to feel good about it. There is still a lot of hard work ahead of us."
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