Hutchinson wins season debut for Jets against Lightning

WINNIPEG --Michael Hutchinson made 23 saves in his season debut to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Bell MTS Place on Tuesday.
Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor and Bryan Little scored for the Jets (30-13-8). Winnipeg is the third team to reach 30 wins after the Lightning and the Vegas Golden Knights.

Hutchinson played in the AHL All-Star Classic on Monday. He caught a flight out of Utica, New York, at 5:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday and got into Winnipeg just before noon CT.
WATCH: [All Lightning vs. Jets highlights]
"It's been about 10 months since my last NHL start, or something like that," said Hutchinson, who last played on April 4, 2017, in a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues. "At the start of the game there was definitely some nerves there, especially going from 3-on-3 last night to 5-on-5. The ice just seemed really crowded out there. Just tried to battle through traffic in the first period, you have a little bit of nerves, your heart stops a couple times. I felt better as the game went on, and by the third period I felt just like I hadn't left the NHL."
Matthew Peca scored for the Lightning (34-13-3), whose three-game winning streak ended. Louis Domingue made 34 saves.

Tampa Bay was 0-for-4 on the power play.
"It was probably a little indicative of how our whole game was going," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "When we're playing the team 5-on-5 game, usually the power play follows suit. But we weren't on it. And then when the power play went out, it probably sucked the life out of us a little bit."
Peca scored his first goal of the season with 29 seconds left in the first period for a 1-0 lead. Brayden Point found Peca alone in front after Peca got behind Winnipeg's defense, and he scored on a deke high on Hutchinson.
Laine tied the game 1-1 with his 23rd goal -- 12th on the power play -- at 3:30 of the second period.
The Jets took the lead at 8:35. Dominge made a save on Blake Wheeler's shot, but Connor was able to get two shots, with the second going in for a 2-1 lead.
"I was trying to get good space and try to get open there," Connor said. "[Wheeler] took a shot to the net and it kind of came right to me. I took a whack at it, and then another one, and it went in."
Little made it 3-1 at 14:35 of the third period, converting on a rebound in front after Mathieu Perreault's shot was saved by Domingue.

Lightning forward Victor Hedman returned after missing five games with a lower-body injury.
"It was OK. I expect better but I felt good," Hedman said. "It was tough tonight. We wanted to win this game and I think we played pretty good in the first, and then we kind of folded a little bit."

Goal of the game

Connor's goal at 8:35 of the second period.

Save of the game

Hutchinson's glove save on Tyler Johnson 17 seconds into the third period.

Highlight of the game

Laine's power-play goal at 3:30 of the second period.

They said it

"He's a guy you can't replace. We're very fortunate that we got that three- to six-week criteria at the beginning [after Hedman's injury]. We thought it was going to be a lot worse, and then you see him come back at three weeks. He's a guy that works extremely hard, he rehabs hard. We're very happy to have him on our team." -- Lightning forward Tyler Johnson
"It's won us hockey games, it's scored us goals, but one of the great side benefits of it is when you have offensive players, there's a pressure. If your power play is not going, then they've got to find those numbers 5-on-5 and you'll find they cheat a little more. That's not a fair word with our group because I don't think we have a whole lot of pressures there for them to put numbers up, and if your power play is not going, it builds frustration in your room. So we don't have that now. We have a lot of confidence in it." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice, whose team went 1-for-4 on the power play

Need to know

Point has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past eight games. Peca's two NHL goals have come against the Jets. … Perreault has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past nine games. Jets forward Adam Lowry returned after missing eight games with an upper-body injury. The Jets have won seven straight home games and 14 of their past 15.

What's next

Lightning: At the Calgary Flames on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SN360, SUN, NHL.TV)
Jets: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)