The Winnipeg Jets took care of business against the Carolina Hurricanes by way of a 2-1 win Monday.
The Winnipeg Jets welcomed the Carolina Hurricanes to Canada Life Centre on Monday night for an inter-conference showdown to end the four-game homestand.
Having just taken care of business against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday afternoon, the Jets kept the good times rolling on Monday, beating the 'Canes 2-1 in a game that netminder Laurent Brossoit stole.
With the win, the Jets improved to 14-8-2 on the season.
Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for Winnipeg, while Brossoit turned aside an eye-popping 42 shots for his third win of the year.
“It’s a huge win," Ehlers said postgame. "After our three-game losing streak there to get back and get two wins in a row, we needed that. We needed to get back on track and play better. We’ve done that.
"Do I think we played the perfect game tonight? Absolutely not, but our goalie stood on his head and even when you don’t play your best, you have to find ways to win, and we were able to do that today against a pretty, pretty good team. It’s good.”
Things really couldn't have started worse for Winnipeg, but an outstanding period of action for Brossoit made all the difference in a frame that saw the visitors pull ahead to a 15-3 shot lead through 20 minutes.
“You’re not going to beat that team without great goaltending," head coach Rick Bowness said. "They just throw everything they can at the net from every angle. Again, their forwards are all big, strong and fast and they get in there. They’re tough to defend. You’re not going to beat that team without great goaltending, with the way that they play.”
In fact, it actually took until 16:33 mark for the Jets to even register their first shot on goal. Somehow, they scored on their second, as Connor finished off a nice setup play by linemates Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers just 25 seconds later.
Leading 1-0 through the opening frame, Winnipeg knew it had dodged a bullet on a strong offensive output from an always threatening Hurricanes team.
Things changed in the middle stanza, as the Jets stormed out to an early 8-1 shot lead through the first four minutes of play.
They were rewarded with another tally, as the top line combined once again for Winnipeg's second goal of the game.
Connor got the puck up-ice to Scheifele, who found a streaking Ehlers in the offensive zone. He put the puck on an absolute wire as he bulged the twine past Antti Raanta for the 2-0 lead.
“He knows where guys are," Ehlers said of Scheifele. "He is pretty good at reading where guys are going to be as well. He’s done that play before and I knew that going to the net he was going behind the goal line, so I was trying to find that high slot to be able to get into a scoring position and he found me. So all around I think that was a pretty nice passing play from KC and Scheif.”
Defenceman Brent Burns made his presence felt on a Canes' power play, but the closest he could come was about an inch short of the mark, as he rattled the puck off a goalpost midway through the frame.
But persistence paid off for the visitors, as Marty Necas got Carolina on the board with just 51 seconds left in the second. His wraparound attempt banked off defenceman Dylan DeMelo's skate and past Brossoit into the net, cutting Winnipeg's lead in half.
The Jets killed off a big penalty midway through the third, as Dylan DeMelo found himself in the box on a phantom tripping minor at the 13-minute mark. But the special teams came through for the third time as Carolina continued to pelt Brossoit with pucks.
Then, it was Connor who had a shot at his sixteenth goal of the season, but was denied by Raanta on a breakaway with six minutes left in the frame.
En route to the bench for the extra attacker, Raanta turned around mid-stride and dove to deny Ehlers a shot at the empty net. Then just moments later, Connor missed on a chance with the goalie on the bench.
But it didn't matter, Brossoit shut the door on everything fired his way, turning aside 42 of Carolina's 43 shots on goal, while Raanta made 20 stops on the 22 pucks directed his way by Winnipeg.
“Listen, tonight was the reason we signed him," Bowness said of Brossoit. "He was the difference, there’s no question. But again, you’re not going to beat that team without great goaltending and LB certainly gave us that tonight. That was his best game, by far.”
Next up for Winnipeg is the start of a four-game road trip through the Western Conference. Things kick off in Colorado on Thursday, before the team goes through the three California clubs in a span of just four days.
Thursday's game will be aired live at 8:00 PM central time. All four games of the road trip can be viewed on TSN.
