WINNIPEG - Winnipeg played a solid defensive game Saturday night holding the Arizona Coyotes to 18 shots in a 5-2 win to close out the five game homestand at 4-1. Kyle Connor with his league leading 14th goal, Mark Scheifele, Vladislav Namestnikov, Josh Morrissey and Mason Appleton scored for the Jets who now have won three straight and are 10-5-2 which is good for second spot in the Central. Scheifele (1G, 2A), Connor (1G, 1A), Brenden Dillon (2A) and Morrissey (1G, 1A) had multi point efforts and Laurent Brossoit (16 saves) won his second consecutive start. The Jets will head out onto the road Monday for a three game road trip which starts Wednesday in Tampa Bay.
BIG IMPROVEMENT DEFENSIVELY
After giving up 17 high danger chances and 28 totals shots to Buffalo the night before, the Jets went back to their solid defensive structure against Arizona. A little bit of a sloppy first period could be attributed to playing the night before but after that the Coyotes didn’t see much in the offensive end. Kyle Connor thought the Jets did a good job of staying patient throughout the night.
“Even our game against Buffalo I thought we could have had a little bit stronger third period, played a little bit more on our toes, go and get that next one. Which we did (tonight), I thought that was awesome, Josh (Morrissey) scored a big one for us which gave us a little bit more of a cushion,” said Connor.
“But you know, that’s how you have to win games. They’re obviously pressing, they can be a little more risky in their game knowing that they are down a couple. I thought we accepted that challenge very well.”
GOOD BOUNCES
The Jets game winning goal Friday was scored on a friendly bounce off Sabres defenseman Owen Power after Nikolaj Ehlers fired a shot from the Buffalo blue line. Saturday night, Winnipeg got another home bounce, Vladislav Namestnikov from behind the Coyotes red line put the puck through the skates of Karel Vjmelka and off the skate of Lawson Crouse and into the goal. It gave Winnipeg their first lead of the night at 2-1. Scheifele said he felt that Namestnikov banked the puck off Crouse on purpose.
