In desperate need of wins to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, the Winnipeg Jets were mostly outplayed in New Jersey, but still found a way to earn a 2-1 victory Thursday night.
Jets backup goaltender Eric Comrie was extremely sharp, especially in the second period, as he made 33 saves to earn his fourth straight victory.
It was the first time in their last 13 games the Jets allowed fewer than three goals in a game.
“Our goalie gave us a chance to win tonight,” said head coach Dave Lowry. “He made the big save and then we killed the penalty, and that really gave us a lot of momentum.”
The Jets had a fast start with Brenden Dillon scoring just over three minutes into the hockey game. But after a strong finish to the opening period, the Devils took the game over in the middle frame. New Jersey held the Jets without a shot for two long stretches in the period. The Jets failed to register a shot in the first seven minutes of the period, and after getting two shots on goal, the Jets went another nine minute span without a shot.
“We didn’t play as direct in the second as we did in the first and the third,” said Lowry. “But credit to our guys that they came out in the third period and we got our game back.”
The Jets haven’t lost a game in regulation time to the Devils since 2016, now with a 9-0-1 record in their last 10 games against Jersey.
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Kyle Connor scored his team leading 35th marker of the season, and he now has goals in five of his last seven. But there was some question initially if the puck went in as the referee first signaled no goal.
“Obviously, I knew it went in,” said Connor. “I was right there. Just kinda looked back and the ref is going like this (no goal signal), so I’m just kinda looking at him. But I knew it was in.”
Mark Scheifele had one assist and has now recorded seven consecutive 50-point seasons.
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The Jets would open the scoring early in the first thanks to an unlikely source. Scheifele was sprung on a 2-on-1 with Dillon, and Dillon buried a great feed from Scheifele for just his second of the season at the 3:22 mark.
But the home side would take advantage of a power play late in the period to even the score. Jack Hughes finished off a fine passing play, ripping a shot past Comrie with only 1:33 to go in the first. New Jersey held a 15-9 edge in shots on goal through 20 minutes.
The Devils dominated a second period that was played with breakneck pace but could not find a way to beat Comrie. It looked like they would carry the momentum to the second intermission but Connor had other ideas.
After Pierre-Luc Dubois forced a turnover near the Jets blueline, Connor collected the puck and raced away from two Devils defenders, beating Nico Daws with a great deke and going bar-down with the backhand with 54 seconds left.
The official initially waved it off because he didn’t see the puck after it rang off the crossbar, but Connor knew it was in and quickly everyone else in the building figured it out. The goal was Connor’s 35th of the season.
Early in the third, the Devils got a great chance to tie the game when a Dylan DeMelo turnover sprung New Jersey on a 3-on-1. But Comrie, making just his 10th start of the season, robbed Pavel Zacha with a sliding cross-crease save.
Winnipeg would earn its first power play of the game just shy of the 12-minute mark of the third when Nikolaj Ehlers was hooked on a partial breakaway.
Dubois had a great chance with the man advantage to pad the lead but his shot rang off the post. Moments later, Connor got free in tight on Daws but Damon Severson made a great recovery to swat the puck away before the Winnipeg sniper could get a shot away.
The Jets did a good job keeping the Devils at bay for the remainder of the game, limiting New Jersey’s chances. The home side pulled Daws for an extra attacker with just under two minutes left but Dougie Hamilton took a tripping penalty to prevent Scheifele from getting a very good look at scoring into the empty net.
New Jersey did pull the goalie again once they had possession of the puck but could not set up any kind of scoring opportunity before time expired.
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The home team finished the game with a 34-30 edge in shots, though the disparity was much larger for most of the game before Winnipeg closed things down in the latter stages of the third. Winnipeg outshot the Devils 14-8 in the final frame.
The Jets will try to win a third straight game Friday when they visit the Islanders. The pregame show begins on 680 CJOB at 4:30 p.m. with the puck dropping shortly after 6:30 p.m.
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