Jets 'Raleigh' for Five Third Period Goals, Beat Carolina 5-3

Never give up, they say. 

Not even when down 3-0 entering the third period.

On Saturday afternoon, it was a resilient Winnipeg Jets team that rallied for five-straight third period goals, erasing a 3-0 deficit and picking up a massive 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes from PNC Center in the second stop of a three-game road trip. 

"It's a tough building to play in, one where it just feels like they're on top of you all the time," said Josh Morrissey - who picked up three assists in the game.

"They play a very aggressive game so sometimes, you know, it's not necessarily going to be the fancy goal. Although we had some nice ones tonight. Sometimes it's just trying to win those stick battles and you know scrambly hockey along the wall and you know finish after that. So, obviously great to make that comeback happen. Against a very good defensive team."

It was a different-looking Jets team that got the job done.

Changes for Winnipeg included that of Rasmus Kupari, David Gustafsson and Logan Stanley drawing in, as Gabe Vilardi - who was injured in Thursday's game in Dallas - Brenden Dillon (illness) and Cole Perfetti (healthy scratch) sat out on Saturday.

The game was a tale of two halves, as a difficult second period set Winnipeg back by three goals. But the visitors needed just over five minutes of the third period to tie things up, as they pounded Carolina for three-straight tallies in 4:04 of work.

Sean Monahan stuck with it and gave the Jets the late-game, go-ahead marker with just over three minutes remaining, before Nino Niederreiter picked up his second goal of the game into the empty net. 

"We kind of let it slip the last couple of games," Monahan said. "I thought we competed. And there's mistakes that happen in games. You come back in the third and win a game, so I think it's a big one for the group." 

Save for two very questionable penalty calls handed out to Neal Pionk and Nate Schmidt, the opening frame did not include much from either club. Shots were 12-11 Carolina through 20 minutes. 

Much changed in the middle stanza. It was the hosts that found the twine, and did so three times in the second period alone. 

The Hurricanes' three goals were results of bad line changes, bad turnovers and bad penalties. 

Moments after the expiry of an unsuccessful Jets power play, the Hurricanes got on the board. Scoring the opening goal at almost exactly the midway point of the game was Martin Necas. The Jets were caught making a bad line change and Necas jumped up on a two-on-one and kept the puck, opting to shoot it past Connor Hellebuyck for the 1-0 lead at 10:12 of the frame.

Much like that of the first goal, the Jets failed to capitalize on yet another power play, before giving up another goal on a rush play up-ice. 

This time it came just seconds after Ehlers hit the post a strong wrist shot at the far end of the ice. Sebastian Aho outmuscled Sean Monahan for the loose puck and fed Teuvo Teravainen, who beat the star netminder for a 2-0 lead with 4:06 left in the period.

But before the Jets could escape into the dressing room, the Canes struck again. Their third goal of the game came on a power play, after Dylan Samberg interfered with Winnipegger Seth Jarvis in the goal mouth. 

Andrei Svechnikov fed Aho across the crease, who put the puck into the net with just 48 seconds remaining. The goal gave Carolina a 1/3 power play succession rate, while Winnipeg entered the third period unsuccessful on four opportunities, after entering the game with nine goals on the man advantage in its last seven games.

The Hurricanes led 3-0 through 40 minutes, while also owning a 25-20 shot advantage. 

Massive changes ensued as the Jets rallied for three-straight goals in the period's opening 5:41.

Skating with Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele to start the frame, Kyle Connor hammered home his 25th of the season, from the blueline. Josh Morrissey got the puck to Ehlers, who found Connor at the point. He one-timed his 25th of the season through Kochetkov, giving new life to the Jets.

Then, just 86 seconds later it was former Hurricane Nino Niederreiter, who got the Jets to within just one goal. A strong play up-ice saw Nate Schmidt set the veteran winger up with a perfect setup play in the high slot. He out-waited Kochetkov and beat the young goaltender on his backhand. 

The two goals were enough for Canes' head coach Rod Brind'Amour to call a timeout in hopes of settling his squad down.

But it wasn't enough, as Michael Bunting found himself in the box for high-sticking Monahan just moments later. 31 seconds into the power play Morrissey found Scheifele, who potted his 18th of the season, and Winnipeg's 10th power play goal in its last eight games.

The three goals came in 4:04 total minutes of game time, with all three coming just 5:41 into the frame. 

The Jets put up an exceptional effort on a mid-period penalty kill, as the team allowed Hellebuyck to see - and save - the puck on a number of opportunities from Carolina.

Then, miraculously, with Kochetkov racing out for a diving poke check on Vlad Namestnikov, Monahan intercepted the puck, outwaited the sprawling netminder and defenceman, before burying the puck into the empty net, giving Winnipeg a 4-3 lead with its fourth-straight goal. 

“It was a bit of a scramble, but we were trying to put more pressure on them," coach Bowness laughed postgame. "Even though we tied it up, we wanted to maintain that pressure; we weren’t going to back off. That’s our game. So, he comes out of the net, and we’re chasing the pucks down, and it just bounced our way.”

Carolina pulled Kochetkov for the extra attacker but it was Niederreiter who got his second of the game into the empty net, sealing the deal for an incredible Jets comeback.  

Hellebuyck finished the game with 33 saves on the 36 shots he faced, while Kochetkov turned aside 31 of Winnipeg's 35 shots on net. 

Next up for Winnipeg is the final stop of the three-game road trip on Saturday night. That game between the Jets and Sabres will be played in Buffalo's KeyBank Center.