By Brook Jones
The Winnipeg Jets certainly did not roll out the red carpet in typical Vegas fashion for the visiting Golden Knights on Tuesday evening at Canada Life Centre.
Jets defenceman Logan Stanley was the crowd favourite as he earned the National Hockey League's game's first star honours with a legendary 'Gordie Howe hat trick' - which is collected when a player collects a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game.
The hometown crowd didn't have much to cheer about during the first half of the opening frame, however, the crowd applauded Jets' goaltender Connor Hellebuyck early on in the first period after he made two big saves on Golden Knight players before the first whistle of the game.
The Jets attempted the first shot of the game, but the puck flew past the Knights' net and it took more than 12 minutes of play before Winnipeg registered its first shot on the scoreboard, which sparked the after burners for the Jets, as they closed the shots deficit to overtake Vegas before the period came to a close.
The first period was a low scoring affair in both the department of goals and shots on net, but the Jets managed to open the scoring as Jets team captain Blake Wheeler lit the goal lamp at 18:08 mark of the first with assists going to Paul Stastny and Mark Scheifele. Before Jets fans could sit down from applauding Wheeler's goal, teammate Kyle Conner found the game sheet by scoring his 38th goal of the season just 33 seconds after Wheeler's married. Pierre Luc-Dubois and Logan Stanley earned the assists.
Tempers flared up at the half-way point of the first when Stanley and Vegas right winger and Winnipeg product Keegan Kolesar were each handed five minute penalties for fighting.
At the conclusion of the first period, Winnipeg had a 2-0 lead and managed to outshoot Vegas 9-7.
During the first, Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey was recognized by in-house announcer Jay Richardson for playing in his 400th NHL game in New York against the Islanders on March 11. Vegas net minder Laurent Brossoit was also acknowledged during the first period as he was a member of the Winnipeg Jets between 2018 and 2021.
Hellebuyck was solid during the opening minutes of the second frame, but Vegas found the back of the net at the 6:49 minute mark, when Golden Knights' centreman Nicolas Roy scored on a pass from Brandon's Zach Whitecloud. Also earning an assist was William Carrier.
The Jets returned the favour and re-claimed their two goal lead less than one minute later when No. 27 Nikolaj Ehlers got the hometown crowd on their feet when he scored an unassisted goal and his 16th of the season at 9:04.
The goals kept coming for Winnipeg when Stanley netted his first of the season at 11:09 of the frame to extended the home team's lead to 4-1. This caused Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer to change netminders when he pulled Brossoit and put former Brandon Wheat King goaltender Logan Thompson in net.
Winnipeg wasn't done yet with lighting up the goal lamp like the Vegas strip when Scheifele scored his 23rd of the season at 18:25 of the middle frame. Assists went to Connor and Morrissey.
Despite being outscored in the second, Vegas outshot Winnipeg 12-7 for a two period total of 19-16 in favour of the Golden Knights.
Vegas entered the third period recharged as they pulled within three of Winnipeg when Vegas Alex Pietrangelo scored his ninth of season on a power play from a pass from another Winnipegger, Nolan Patrick. It didn't take long for Vegas to beat Hellebuyck once again when Golden Knights Michael Amadio scored his sixth of the season and the assist went to Jake Leschyshyn.
The Jets took advantage of a powerplay at 10:33, as Morrissey scored his eighth of the season just with Connor and Wheeler finding the game sheet once again with the assists.
Lady Luck was on the side of Winnipeg tonight as the Jets scored their seventh goal of the game when scored Adam Lowry netted a short handed goal for his ninth of the season. The assist went to Nate Schmidt.
Vegas outshot Winnipeg 19-17 in the third and at the end of 60 minutes, despite being outshot 38-23, Winnipeg dominated in the face-off category as they won 57% of the face-offs compared to 43% for Vegas. Winnipeg was one for three on the power play and Vegas was one for two.
With the victory, Winnipeg - which wore its heritage blue sweaters - pulled to within one point of their Central Division rivals the Dallas Stars, with the Jets now boasting a record of 27-23-10 for 66 points, just one point behind the fifth-place Stars and 14 points ahead of the seventh-place Chicago Blackhawks.
Winnipeg earned all three game star honours as Stanley was named the game's first star, Lowry was the second and the third star went to Morrissey.
The Jets next see action against the Boston Bruins at Canada Life Centre on March 18. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Tempers flared up at the half-way point of the first when Stanley and Vegas right winger and Winnipeg product Keegan Kolesar were each handed five minute penalties for fighting.
At the conclusion of the first period, Winnipeg had a 2-0 lead and managed to outshoot Vegas 9-7.
During the first, Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey was recognized by in-house announcer Jay Richardson for playing in his 400th NHL game in New York against the Islanders on March 11. Vegas net minder Laurent Brossoit was also acknowledged during the first period as he was a member of the Winnipeg Jets between 2018 and 2021.
Hellebuyck was solid during the opening minutes of the second frame, but Vegas found the back of the net at the 6:49 minute mark, when Golden Knights' centreman Nicolas Roy scored on a pass from Brandon's Zach Whitecloud. Also earning an assist was William Carrier.
The Jets returned the favour and re-claimed their two goal lead less than one minute later when No. 27 Nikolaj Ehlers got the hometown crowd on their feet when he scored an unassisted goal and his 16th of the season at 9:04.
The goals kept coming for Winnipeg when Stanley netted his first of the season at 11:09 of the frame to extended the home team's lead to 4-1. This caused Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer to change netminders when he pulled Brossoit and put former Brandon Wheat King goaltender Logan Thompson in net.
Winnipeg wasn't done yet with lighting up the goal lamp like the Vegas strip when Scheifele scored his 23rd of the season at 18:25 of the middle frame. Assists went to Connor and Morrissey.
Despite being outscored in the second, Vegas outshot Winnipeg 12-7 for a two period total of 19-16 in favour of the Golden Knights.
Vegas entered the third period recharged as they pulled within three of Winnipeg when Vegas Alex Pietrangelo scored his ninth of season on a power play from a pass from another Winnipegger, Nolan Patrick. It didn't take long for Vegas to beat Hellebuyck once again when Golden Knights Michael Amadio scored his sixth of the season and the assist went to Jake Leschyshyn.
The Jets took advantage of a powerplay at 10:33, as Morrissey scored his eighth of the season just with Connor and Wheeler finding the game sheet once again with the assists.
Lady Luck was on the side of Winnipeg tonight as the Jets scored their seventh goal of the game when scored Adam Lowry netted a short handed goal for his ninth of the season. The assist went to Nate Schmidt.
Vegas outshot Winnipeg 19-17 in the third and at the end of 60 minutes, despite being outshot 38-23, Winnipeg dominated in the face-off category as they won 57% of the face-offs compared to 43% for Vegas. Winnipeg was one for three on the power play and Vegas was one for two.
With the victory, Winnipeg - which wore its heritage blue sweaters - pulled to within one point of their Central Division rivals the Dallas Stars, with the Jets now boasting a record of 27-23-10 for 66 points, just one point behind the fifth-place Stars and 14 points ahead of the seventh-place Chicago Blackhawks.
Winnipeg earned all three game star honours as Stanley was named the game's first star, Lowry was the second and the third star went to Morrissey.
The Jets next see action against the Boston Bruins at Canada Life Centre on March 18. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
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