With the Winnipeg Jets toiling near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, they need to pile up wins to have any hope of making a playoff push.
One can argue whether or not it’s already too late, but there are still many games to be played, including Tuesday night when the Jets edged the St. Louis Blues 3-1 in Winnipeg to leapfrog the Blues into 14th place in the West.
The Jets scored twice on a four-minute power play in the first period and that would turn out to be enough against the NHL’s lowest scoring team. Winnipeg added an empty netter to get back in the win column despite registering only 16 shots, including just two in the third period.
“Grinding, battling through it,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey. “It might not be the prettiest night, but finding a way to get those two points, which is kinda what we’ve been talking about lately. So, we did a good job of just sticking with our game and rolling the lines and the ‘D’, and kinda a greasy, greasy game that got us the two points.”
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Mark Scheifele scored twice and added an assist, and Morrissey had their other tally and also had a three-point night in the victory.
While the Jets have really struggled in the first game of a back-to-back with just one win in six tries, somehow the Jets now have a 4-2 record in the second half of back-to-backs this season.
“If I find an answer I could sell it,” said Scheifele. “It’s sometimes the way it goes. I’m just happy we got the win.”
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The Jets managed to hold the lead in the final frame which has been a challenge for the team this season.
The Blues also had a four-minute man advantage in the second stanza and scored their only goal of the game.
“I know they scored but that second part of that penalty kill that we killed off is large,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “But for me it was a lot of we did the blocking the shots, getting pucks out when they had to be cleared in front of the net, allowing Coms (Eric Comrie) to see those pucks.
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“So, there was a lot of stuff I think that every line, we tried to play as simple as possible, gain zones, and continue to do that for 60 minutes.”
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The Blues haven’t won a road game since Dec. 20 and have lost seven straight away games.
Gustav Nyquist was in the Jets’ lineup for the first in two weeks as he replaced Cole Koepke.
“He hadn’t been in for a while,” Arniel said. “Back-to-back game – just trying to get kinda him back in the roster.”
The Jets got the first power play of the night when Nathan Walker caught Isaak Phillips in the face with a high stick off a faceoff. Phillips left the ice with a bloody nose, earning Walker a double-minor and giving Winnipeg four minutes with the man advantage.
Turns out, they did not need all four minutes to do damage.
Morrissey opened the scoring when he blasted a pass from Scheifele past a screened Joel Hofer with 49 seconds to go on the first part of the double-minor.
After Winnipeg’s second unit came out for a bit, the big guns returned to the ice and doubled down. Morrissey got the puck down low to Scheifele, who had a lot of open ice around him. He skated the puck towards the crease before roofing it from a tough angle over the shoulder of Hofer to make it 2-0 with his 24th of the season.
The Blues came within an inch or two of getting on the board later in the period. Comrie got a piece of a Cam Fowler shot but the puck landed behind him and trickled toward the goal line, but Nino Niederreiter knocked the puck away just in a nick of time, keeping Winnipeg’s 2-0 lead intact heading to the second.
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The Blues began the period on a power play, but Winnipeg had the best chance when Dylan Samberg found himself on a shorthanded breakaway. He did not deke, instead trying to beat Hofer with a wrist shot but Hofer turned it aside with the left pad.
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Niederreiter had a close call himself just past the midway point of the second when he found himself on an odd-man break with Scheifele. Scheifele sent a pass over to Niederreiter but the Swiss Olympian’s shot hit the post.
Roughly a minute later, it was the Blues’ turn to ring iron. Thanks to a breakdown in the Winnipeg end, Nick Bjugstad was allowed to walk in down the right wing before he fired a shot that nailed the crossbar and bounced back into the slot, but the Jets were able to clear it to safety.
With 3:25 to go in the period, Vladislav Namestnikov collided with Jonatan Berggren, inadvertently catching Berggren in the face with his stick and cutting him near the eye. This gave St. Louis a four-minute power play of their own to try and get back into the game.
Like Winnipeg, they took advantage of the opportunity.
48 seconds into the first part of the double-minor, Jordan Kyrou one-timed a pass from Justin Faulk high over the glove hand of Comrie to make it 2-1.
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But the Jets killed off the second part of the penalty and moments after Namestnikov stepped out of the box, Winnipeg had a great chance to restore the two-goal lead as Namestnikov carried the puck into the Blues end and dished it to Tanner Pearson, streaking down the middle. He got in close before taking a shot that Hofer stopped with his glove, keeping it 2-1 after 40 minutes.
St. Louis outshot the Jets 11-8 in the second and held a 17-14 advantage in shots on goal through two periods.
The Jets got another chance to do damage on the power play when Dalibor Dvorsky was called for holding 2:27 into the third but Winnipeg couldn’t capitalize.
St. Louis got their own power play chance with 13:19 to go when Phillips was called for high-sticking, but the Jets’ penalty kill got the job done, thanks in part to a great blocker save by Comrie.
Not much happened in the third before Hofer went off for an extra attacker with just over 2:30 to go but just seconds later, Kyle Connor banked the puck off the boards and up the ice where Scheifele skated to it and deposited it into the empty net for his second of the night to seal the win.
Comrie was solid for the Jets, turning aside 22 shots for the win, while Hofer only had to make 13 in the loss.
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The Jets will look to make it two wins in a row when they host the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers Thursday night. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins just after 5 p.m. with the puck dropping just after 7 p.m.