WINNIPEG – Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele each had three points as the Winnipeg Jets won their third straight game.
The Jets defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday at MTS Centre as Scheifele and Wheeler both had a goal and two assists.
“I like our game a lot.” said Wheeler. “Maybe a little slow out of the gate but other than that, we stuck with it. You can’t expect to blow the doors off every team we play no matter how good we think we are. I thought we were resilient, we dug in and we battled hard.”
Mathieu Perreault scored the other marker for the Jets. Michael Hutchinson made his first start in goal since January 16. He finished with 24 saves and made a few key stops down the stretch to help secure the victory.
“It was just nice to be in the game and see some game action.” said Hutchinson. “I felt good right off the get go in this game. I felt like I was battling through traffic and seeing pucks early.”
The Jets got off to a bit of a slow start against the Flyers. But Winnipeg came out flying in the third period and at one point were outshooting the Flyers 12-5 in the final frame before the Flyers had a flurry of chances in the final minutes.
“They got a real good quick team and they’re a pretty heavy forechecking team.” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We’ve got a bunch of new guys back there so we were off gap and maybe slightly tentative early, but not to the point that it cost us anything and then we got stronger.”
Steve Mason made 30 saves in goal for Philadelphia as the final shots finished 33-26 in favour of the Jets.
“We knew it was going to be a grind.” Scheifele said. “They play a tough game, they swarm the puck but we stuck to our game and got rewarded.”
The Jets didn’t register their first shot until the 7:49 mark of the opening period. Neither team really had much in the way of quality scoring chances in the first as the Jets outshot Philly 8-7.
The Flyers started the middle period on the power play. The Jets killed it off but the Flyers maintained their momentum. Nearing the five minute mark there was a scramble around the Jets net. With Hutchinson down and out of position Wayne Simmonds sent the puck in front of the goal and Jordan Weal whacked it past Hutchinson. Claude Giroux also picked up an assist on Weal’s fourth goal of the season.
The Jets capitalized on their own powerplay at the 7:02 mark. Wheeler blasted a slap shot from the point and Perreault deflected the puck behind Mason. Wheeler was originally credited with the goal but it was later awarded to Perreault. Wheeler and Scheifele collected the assists on Perreault’s ninth goal of the season and it was 1-1. The shots were 10-7 for the Flyers in the period.
Midway through the third period the Jets took their first lead of the game. Perreault carried the puck into the Flyers zone. He spotted Scheifele who quickly found Wheeler and he snapped it past Mason. Wheeler’s 22nd gave the Jets a 2-1 lead.
With just over six minutes remaining the Jets added an insurance marker. The Flyers failed to clear the puck and Wheeler set up Scheifele who buried the shot from the top of the circle for his 29th of the season.
Former Brandon Wheat Kings forward Brayden Schenn scored a shorthanded tally for the Flyers with just two seconds left in regulation time to make it a 3-2 final.
Three of the six defenceman who dressed for the Jets started the season with the Manitoba Moose. Defenceman Nelson Nogier appeared in his first career NHL game after getting recalled from the Moose on Monday. He had one shot and three hits in 12:16 on the ice and more importantly wasn’t on the ice for any of the Flyers goals.
“I was fortunate to get my legs under me pretty quick.” said Nogier. “Got a few touches with the puck and from there I just tried to settle down.”
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Brian Strait and Julian Melchiori were also in the lineup for Winnipeg after starting the season in the AHL.
Paul Postma, Ben Chiarot, Jacob Trouba, Shawn Matthias, Toby Enstrom, Tyler Myers and Ondrej Pavelec all missed the game with injuries.
The Jets will not practice on Wednesday as it is a travel day. They’ll kick off a two game California road trip on Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings.
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