COMRIE'S SHUTOUT GIVES JETS 4-0 WIN OVER VEGAS
LAS VEGAS, NV -- The Winnipeg Jets got a superb goaltending performance from Eric Comrie and put an end to an eight-game regular-season losing streak against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., the Jets got goals from Mark Scheifele, Adam, Lowry, Colin Miller and Cole Perfetti and a 25-save shutout by Comrie as Winnipeg whipped the hometown Vegas Golden Knights 4-0.
It was an outstanding bounce back win after that horrible 4-1 loss in Los Angeles on Tuesday night and it left the Jets with a record of 52-20-4, three points ahead of the Washington Capitals in the race for first overall and four points ahead of the Dallas Stars in the battle for top spot in the West. The Jets have six games remaining this season.
On Thursday night in Vegas, the Jets dominated the first two periods and then counted on their defensive play and a brilliant effort from Comrie in the third period to put the game away.
And they did it without Gabriel Vilardi, Neal Pionk, Rasmus Kupari and David Gustafsson.
As well, they might have lost Nikolaj Ehlers, who as simply beaten up by the puck on Thursday night. He took a shot off the ankle in the first period, but went back into the game. Then he was tripped in the third and appeared to hurt the same ankle and then, during the power play, took another shot off the ankle and had to be helped to the bench.
The Jets had to play most of the third period without him and they still prevailed.
“(Coach Scott Arniel) and the coaching staff has a lot of trust in me,” Comrie said. “’Arnie’ told me a couple days ago, ‘He doesn't care who's playing because we have full confidence in you.’ That gave me a lot of confidence in myself, and it just gave me a belief in myself to go out there and do what I have to do.”
The Jets opened the scoring at 13:01 of the first period when Alex Iafallo made a solid play at the Knights blueline to create a two-on-one with Mark Scheifele, Iafallo had a great chance to shoot it himself, but chose to make a perfect pass to Scheifele who drilled it past Knights netminder Adin Hill. It was Scheifele’s 37th goal of the season as Iafallo and Luke Schenn drew the assists.
The Jets made it 2-0 at 18:15 when Adam Lowry worked the puck into the Knights corner and whipped it around the boards to Logan Stanley (with some help from Mason Appleton) at the point. Stanley fired a shot at the net, Nino Niederreiter took a whack at the rebound and Lowry banged home the rebound off the Niederreiter attempt. It was the Lowry’s 15th goal of the season, tied for his career best (2016-17). Niederreiter and Stanley got the helpers.
The Jets took that 2-0 advantage into the locker room at intermission. Winnipeg outshot Vegas 11-9 in the opening period (although it was more like 15-9 but who’s counting, seriously, who’s counting?), the Knights won 65 per cent of the faceoffs and the Jets outhit Vegas 13-12.
The Jets took a 3-0 lead at 11:53 of the second period on the power play when Colin Miller just unloaded with a shot from inside the blueline that Hill never saw (clocked at 96 miles per hour). It was Miller’s fourth of the season as Appleton and Niederreiter drew the assists.
The 3-0 lead didn’t appear to help the Jets. In fact, were it not for three superb saves by Comrie – one highlight reel stop off a shot from Mark Stone – the game might have been tied. It could have been Comrie’s best stretch as a Jet.
However, what was quite interesting is the fact the building nearly emptied after Winnipeg made it 3-0. There is just too much to do in Las Vegas that is more interesting than watching a losing hockey team.
Both teams had eight shots in the second period (Jets led 19-13 after 40 minutes), Vegas won 55 per cent of the faceoffs and Winnipeg outhit the Knights 10-8 (23-20 overall).
Las Vegas started the third period by sending Hill to the bench and placing No. 3 netminder Akira Schmid between the pipes. Of course, by this time, T-Mobile Arena was barely half full.
The Jets, meanwhile, played Jets third-period hockey, spent most of the time in their own end checking like crazy and got that sensational goaltending performance from Comrie.
Finally, at 19:09, Cole Perfetti was sent away by Kyle Connor and backhanded a shot into the empty net to put it away.
Vegas outshot Winnipeg 15-3 in the third period, but the Jets scored the only goal. It was an almost perfect road game. Vegas outshot Winnipeg 28-22. The three stars, as chosen by the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press were 1. Eric Comrie, 2. defenceman Luke Shenn and 3. Captain Adam Lowry.
“The messaging from ‘Arnie’ is just about the process, taking care of that and the results will follow,” Lowry told reporters. “We talked about coming in here against another red-hot team, another dangerous team off the rush, and a team that really makes it hard to get to the net. You got to be willing to get inside. You must be willing to win those races and win those battles. We did a good job listening to that message and getting to the heart of the ice, especially in the first half of the game.”
The Jets will play again on Saturday night when they face the Utah Hockey Club at 6 p.m. CDT.
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