With Connor Hellebuyck the latest member of the team to sit out (non COVID-related illness), Winnipeg managed to beat up its visitors 5-1 in a game that got out of hand rather early.
Kyle Connor (two goals and one assist) and Josh Morrissey (one goal and one assist) extended their personal point streaks to 10 games, while fill-in netminder David Rittich earned his fifth win of the season.
“I kind of had some information yesterday, so I was prepared to play," Rittich said of Hellebuyck's absence. "Even if Bucky would be here, I was preparing myself to play. So, I don’t know if that would be very different if Bucky would be here.”
With Nikolaj Ehlers, Mason Appleton, Blake Wheeler, Logan Stanley and Nate Schmidt currently on the injured reserve, a shorthanded Jets team - resembling that of the season-opening Manitoba Moose lineup - absolutely took care of the Senators, despite being outshot on the night, and according to both the coach and a couple players, it wasn't even a full 60-minute effort.
"I thought we responded well tonight," Morrissey said referencing his team's bounce-back performance following the loss in Seattle. "I don’t know if it was necessarily a Picasso out there but we found a way to win. It’s not always going to be pretty... so I thought for us to get the two points is big.”
The Jets needed just 1:58 to open the scoring on Tuesday, with recent AHL call-up Kevin Stenlund potting his first as a member of the Jets. David Gustafsson found him on a great setup play from behind the net, to which Stenlund was denied by the padding of Cam Talbot. He stuck with it, and batted the rebound out of mid-air and into the net.
“It feels like I'm back home, it’s nice," Stenlund said. "I want to contribute and help the team win. So it was a nice feeling... It’s been fun to just be out there and play. I want to help the team the way I can. Obviously, just fun to be here.”
Winnipeg potted its second of the frame exactly five minutes later, with stud blueliner Josh Morrissey collecting his sixth of the season. Racing across the ice to prevent the puck from leaving the attacking zone, J-Mo deked around Drake Batherson before walking to the net and putting a wrist shot through a perfect Sam Gagner screen and into the open net, making it 2-0.
But with Neal Pionk in the box for holding, Ottawa got one back.
The Senators’ version of Morrissey, Thomas Chabot, found Batherson, who blasted his 11th of the year past a scrambling David Rittich high, blocker side. The goal cut Winnipeg’s lead to 2-1 just 40 seconds into the man advantage and with just 8:28 having ticked off the clock.
Gagner restored the Jets’ two-goal lead late in the frame, as his mates worked the puck around the Ottawa zone on a delayed Senators penalty. With just 12.8 seconds left, Gagner potted his sixth of the season as The Killers’ ‘Mr. Brightside’ rained down as time expired.
The Jets trailed 17-10 on the shot chart through 20 minutes, but maintained a 3-1 lead.
It took just 1:02 of the second period for Winnipeg to add the lead. The red-hot Morrissey picked up his prettiest assist of the season, as he faked a clapper from the point and fired a nice, hard pass onto the stick of Kyle Connor, who easily put it into the wide-open net for his 14th of the season. With his assist, Morrissey now has 32 helpers in 32 games.
A slow third period didn't amount to much (not that the Jets needed it either) but both teams stood pat as Winnipeg calmly collected its 21st win of the season by way of the 5-1 score.
"We didn’t like the first period at all," Bowness said. "The discussion was, let’s not be fooled by the score. We didn’t like our first at all. Just unnecessary turnovers. The whole game for me, it’s ridiculous how many unnecessary shots we give up just because of our puck management. Listen, we love the two points, we needed the win, we got it. We got away with things tonight that we will not get away with on Thursday or Friday. We made the most of our opportunities, we got some big saves when we needed them. At times we played very smart, and at times we played very loose."
David Rittich made 35 saves on 36 Ottawa shots and saw his record improve to 5-3-0 on the season, while Cam Talbot turned aside just 19 of the 24 pucks fired his way and fell to 8-8-0 on the year. With the win, Winnipeg maintains its stranglehold on second place in the Central Division, just one point behind Dallas (19-8-6) with one game in hand.
“We all wish Bucky could be here with us," Rittich shared. "He’s probably one of the biggest parts of this team and he’s having a really good season. So, it’s obviously it’s not a great thing we not having him here, but it feels good to have two starts in a row and finally get a win.”
Winnipeg next travels to Boston for the first of a two-game road trip to end its pre-Christmas schedule. The Jets will face off against a strong Bruins team on Thursday, before hitting the road for Washington, DC and a battle with Alexander Ovechkin on Friday. Both games feature 6:00 PM central start times and can be seen live on TSN.
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