Jets defeat Sabres in shootout, gain ground in wild card race

BUFFALO --Blake Wheeler scored and had the deciding goal in the shootout to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.

Mason Appleton scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves for the Jets (33-25-10), who have won seven of nine and trail the Vegas Golden Knights by two points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Vegas won 3-0 against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.
"Not a great first period. I think we're still kind of a tired team," said Wheeler, the Jets captain. "We just played five games in [nine] days. … Hopefully, we can get back a little bit of jump in our step (at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday). We've got two more games, two big games before we get a nice little break. We've just got to dig deep."
Zemgus Girgensons scored twice, and Kyle Okposo had two assists for the Sabres (24-33-11), who are 4-0-3 in their past seven. Craig Anderson made 25 saves.
"I think we generated a lot of chances," Girgensons said. "Sometimes goalies make big stops. Especially in [overtime] there, we had a golden opportunity and the goalie just came up big for them."
Girgensons gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 14:39 of the first period. After his first attempt from the top of the right face-off circle was blocked, Girgensons picked up the loose puck by the hash marks and scored to the blocker side.

The Sabres outshot the Jets 13-5 in the first period.
"I felt that Hellebuyck was very good for them," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "We could've had some separation. There wasn't, and credit to him. I thought the skilled players for Winnipeg made a pretty good push in the third, and I thought 'Andy' got to his game a little bit in the third. It was a hard-fought game, but yeah, we could've had some separation. We played very well early, and not that we did poorly late, but we played better early and couldn't get that separation."
Wheeler tied it 1-1 at 4:13 of the second period. Pierre-Luc Dubois drew Anderson out of the crease, dived to sweep the puck into the open net from the bottom of the right circle, and Wheeler got his stick on it before it slid into the net.
"It was one of those things where I'm kind of in behind the goalie and he dekes, and the whole way I think he's sliding it to me and our angles kind of converge and it's going right into the net," Wheeler said. "Instincts take over and, honestly, my first thought was I could have knocked that out of the net and that would have been horrible. I guess I owe 'Dubie' one. I'll try and get him an empty-net (goal) one of these days."
Girgensons put Buffalo ahead 2-1 at 8:24. Hellebuyck lost sight of a Henri Jokiharju point shot that was blocked in front of him, and Girgensons went across his body to put the loose puck behind him.

"Zemgus, it was nice to see him score a couple tonight," Granato said. "He could've had a couple more. Smart player, he's a worker, he's always working, he's always prepared to play. And by virtue of all that, he's a heck of a leader for us. So good to see him rewarded."
Appleton tied it 2-2 with 21 seconds remaining, taking a cross-ice pass from Nikolaj Ehlers and scoring to the far side from the right circle. It was his first point since the Jets reacquired him in a trade with the Kraken on March 20.
"That's what 'Apple' does, right?" Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said. "He's had some good games since he's come over. He played his game, he played straight lines. He was in on the forecheck. I liked that line. I like what they did. Nice to see him get rewarded."
NOTES: Jets forward Kyle Connor and defenseman Nate Schmidt entered NHL COVID-19 protocol after each tested positive Wednesday morning. Connor leads Winnipeg with 82 points (41 goals, 41 assists) in 67 games. … Wheeler extended his point streak to six games (eight points; two goals, six assists). … After playing the Maple Leafs, the Jets host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday before having three days off. … The Sabres have their first seven-game point streak since winning 10 in a row from Nov. 8-27, 2018. … Girgensons scored two goals for the first time since Nov. 24, 2019, against the Florida Panthers.