Jets Handle Lightning, Beat Tampa Bay 4-1 at Home

On trade deadline eve, the Winnipeg Jets hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning in an inter-conference tilt at Canada Life Centre.

The game was the second of Winnipeg's eight-game homestand and proved to be its fifth-straight registering at least a point, as the Jets took care of the Lightning by way of a 4-1 final. 

Thanks to a strong second period that saw goals from Morgan Barron and Mark Scheifele, the Jets pulled to within seven points of the Seattle Kraken for the final spot in the Western Conference Wild Card playoff run. 

Prior to puck drop, the Jets announced the recall of defenceman Isaak Phillips from the AHL. Neither Logan Stanley nor Luke Schenn came out for warmup, signifying the team's interest in protecting the two players in advance of Friday's trade deadline.

With Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk and Colin Miller already injured and out of action, the Jets dressed a defensive corps that included Ville Heinola, Dylan Samberg, Dylan DeMelo, Haydn Fleury, Elias Salomonsson and Isaak Phillips.

“It’s not fun. That’s the business," Scheifele said. "Obviously, I don’t think I’ve been through that in a long time. Something I had to do was refocus before the game. But I was really happy for this group. Philly and Ville, both coming in and playing awesome. Guys stepped up. Fleurs stepped up, Salo has been great. Samby and Smoke stepped in and played awesome, so that was good to see.”

The Jets kept the Bolts in check through the first period, actually maintaining an 8-5 shot lead through 20 minutes of play. 

It was in the second period where they took the lead, blowing the shot chart wide-open, pulling ahead to a 1-0 lead and a +12 differential in shots.

Barron's ninth of the season came late in the period, to which he rebounded home a perfect shot-pass from Cole Koepke on a rush up ice, opening the scoring 35:31 in.

Then, with just 18 seconds left, Scheifele hammered home his 29th of the season. With Kyle Connor executing a perfect forecheck, he dished the puck to Alex Iafallo, who set Scheifele up for the one-time strike. 

Through 40 minutes of play, Winnipeg led 2-0 and held a 22-10 shot advantage.

The third period began slowly for the hosts, which gave up eight-straight shots on goal to start the frame, including Tampa's first of the game - a Brayden Point power play marker, just seven seconds into a Salomonsson high sticking minor.

But the Jets responded with Gustav Nyquist's first goal of the season. Although taking significantly longer to earn his first marker with the Jets than he would have liked, Nyquist picked up the puck off a hard-working shift from Tanner Pearson and Jonathan Toews, who assisted on his first in Winnipeg 5:34 into the third period.

"I mean, it feels great, obviously for the support there," Nyquist said of the cheers after his goal. "I know it's been a long time coming. So, overall, I thought we played a good, really good game all throughout. And then obviously they came out with a push in the third and got the early goal on the power play. And then, so it's nice to put that goal in for 3-1."

Five minutes later, Kyle Connor thought he had the Jets up 4-1, but his goal was called back due to his linemate Scheifele skating in offside before he carried the puck into the Bolts' zone and ripped it past Andrei Vasilevskiy, negating the goal.

With Andrei Vasilevskiy on the bench for the extra attacker, Scheifele made it up to his linemate, handing him the puck on the doorstep, where he sealed the deal into the wide open net, finishing off the visitors with the 4-1 strike. 

“There was no chance I was shooting another puck the rest of the game," Scheifele laughed post-game.

"I was going to do everything in my power to get him that goal back because I was so mad at myself. I was very angry with myself there. That is a loss of focus. You should never go offside in that situation - you should never go offside in general, really. I’m going to hear about that one from Oatsie and from a lot of my buddies, trust me. It won’t be a fun conversation or text I’ll be getting from some of the guys. But yeah, I wasn’t going to shoot another puck until KC got one.”

Hellebuyck finished the night with 26 stops on Tampa Bay's 27 shots, while Vasilevskiy turned aside just 26 of Winnipeg's 29 shots on goal.

Next up for Winnipeg is a test with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday in a 6:00 PM central Hockey Night in Canada spectacle.