The Winnipeg Jets have finally woken up. And all it took was a Friday night tilt with the Original Six Detroit Red Wings.
The Red Wings, mind you, are the 24th-ranked team. So, is a 6-2 victory all that impressive when you consider that it came over a dead tired Detroit team that played Thursday night against a strong Carolina club?
Of course it is.
And for the Jets, they will take anything they can get at this point.
"I think we played well tonight, but we’ve got six games to go and every single one is a huge one," Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers said post-game. "So we enjoy this one for tonight and then we move on to the next one tomorrow.”
Friday night was pretty much a must-win. With Calgary and Nashville continuing to gain ground in the ever-competitive Western Conference wild card race, every point matters as the number of regular season games remaining hits single digits.
Entering the game with just nine wins in the past two months, finding a way to get both points has been about as difficult a task as one could imagine these days.
So, on Friday night, the slumping stars found a way to get the job done, and did so in thrilling fashion.
Blake Wheeler snapped his 21-game goalless drought, Mark Scheifele scored his first tally in 10 games, while Kyle Connor also found the twine for just the second time in a span of 15 games. As a matter of fact, seven different Jets had multi-point outings.
"Tonight is obviously more of an example for how we want to play," head coach Rick Bowness said. "Now we know they played last night and they came in a little tired but that’s more of an example. We’ve also played some pretty good games where we’ve lost here at home. We played really well and we scored some goals, that’s really the biggest difference. That’s how we want to play.”
Mason Appleton had two assists, while Dylan DeMelo, Nino Niederreiter and Ehlers picked up the other markers for the Jets, who moved five points up on Nashville and four points on Calgary for the final playoff spot.
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1641962817128476673
Winnipeg actually did so without all-star defenceman Josh Morrissey, who sat this one out as he battled a cold.
The Jets got out to a rather quick 3-0 lead in the opening frame, with Connor opening the scoring with his 29th, before Wheeler snapped his lengthy streak on a two-on-one rush up ice. Scheifele hit a new career-high with his 39th of the season to round out the first period scoring.
Dylan DeMelo kept the good times rolling as he scored his fifth of the year just 1:20 into the middle stanza, before Niederreiter got his 23rd of the season on a strong rebound play.
Friday night was pretty much a must-win. With Calgary and Nashville continuing to gain ground in the ever-competitive Western Conference wild card race, every point matters as the number of regular season games remaining hits single digits.
Entering the game with just nine wins in the past two months, finding a way to get both points has been about as difficult a task as one could imagine these days.
So, on Friday night, the slumping stars found a way to get the job done, and did so in thrilling fashion.
Blake Wheeler snapped his 21-game goalless drought, Mark Scheifele scored his first tally in 10 games, while Kyle Connor also found the twine for just the second time in a span of 15 games. As a matter of fact, seven different Jets had multi-point outings.
"Tonight is obviously more of an example for how we want to play," head coach Rick Bowness said. "Now we know they played last night and they came in a little tired but that’s more of an example. We’ve also played some pretty good games where we’ve lost here at home. We played really well and we scored some goals, that’s really the biggest difference. That’s how we want to play.”
Mason Appleton had two assists, while Dylan DeMelo, Nino Niederreiter and Ehlers picked up the other markers for the Jets, who moved five points up on Nashville and four points on Calgary for the final playoff spot.
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1641962817128476673
Winnipeg actually did so without all-star defenceman Josh Morrissey, who sat this one out as he battled a cold.
The Jets got out to a rather quick 3-0 lead in the opening frame, with Connor opening the scoring with his 29th, before Wheeler snapped his lengthy streak on a two-on-one rush up ice. Scheifele hit a new career-high with his 39th of the season to round out the first period scoring.
Dylan DeMelo kept the good times rolling as he scored his fifth of the year just 1:20 into the middle stanza, before Niederreiter got his 23rd of the season on a strong rebound play.
“I mean, that was a snipe; that was pretty incredible," Ehlers said of DeMelo's shot. "I think everyone was looking at each other going, ‘what the hell just happened?’. He’s such a great guy off the ice and works hard every game on the ice. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy. What he does for this team is pretty huge. It’s exciting for us.”
Ehlers potted his 10th five minutes into the third period, as Winnipeg began running away with the game.
Detroit did get a late-game power play goal to spoil Hellebuyck's bid for a shutout, as David Perron scored with the man advantage. And moments later, Joe Veleno tapped home his eighth of the season, cutting the deficit to four.
The Jets did welcome back a familiar face to Canada Life Centre, as Andrew Copp made his return to Winnipeg after signing with the Red Wings this past offseason.
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1641964213563269122
Hellebuyck turned aside 22 of Detroit's 24 shots in his league-leading 59th start of the season. With the win, he improved his record to 33-24-2 on the season.
But on the other end of the ice, Magnus Hellberg did not fare as well. He finished with 23 saves on the 29 shots faced.
Winnipeg continues its season-long five-game homestand with a test against the Eastern Conference's New Jersey Devils on Sunday, before setting itself up for a critical back-to-back with the Flames and Predators on Wednesday and Saturday.
The Jets did welcome back a familiar face to Canada Life Centre, as Andrew Copp made his return to Winnipeg after signing with the Red Wings this past offseason.
https://twitter.com/CBrooksie84/status/1641964213563269122
Hellebuyck turned aside 22 of Detroit's 24 shots in his league-leading 59th start of the season. With the win, he improved his record to 33-24-2 on the season.
But on the other end of the ice, Magnus Hellberg did not fare as well. He finished with 23 saves on the 29 shots faced.
Winnipeg continues its season-long five-game homestand with a test against the Eastern Conference's New Jersey Devils on Sunday, before setting itself up for a critical back-to-back with the Flames and Predators on Wednesday and Saturday.
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