The Winnipeg Jets improved to 23-9-4 with a 4-2 home victory over Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
The Winnipeg Jets hit the ice for the first time in 2024 on Tuesday night, when they hosted the always-dangerous Tampa Bay Lightning from Canada Life Centre.
After falling behind early in the first period, the Jets turned up the Florida heat and lay a beating on the visiting Bolts.
Winnipeg got goals from Neal Pionk, Alex Iafallo, Nikolaj Ehlers and Morgan Barron, as Connor Hellebuyck earned win No. 18 of the season, this one by way of a 4-2 final.
The Jets actually fell behind rather quickly, as captain Adam Lowry was called for high-sticking, on a play that actually didn't involve his stick whatsoever. As shown on the replay, it was a Tampa Bay player who got his teammate up-high with friendly fire, leading to an early Bolts power play.
The league's point leader Nikita Kucherov got the puck to Victor Hedman, who set captain Steven Stamkos up for a power play one-timer. The blast found its way through Connor Hellebuyck after deflecting off defenceman Dylan DeMelo.
Winnipeg did get a late man advantage of its own as time wound down in the first, but couldn't quite make one count.
The Jets finished the period down 1-0 and trailing 11-7 on the shot chart through 20 minutes.
It took just 4:44 of the second period for Winnipeg to tie things up, as defenceman Brenden Dillon set his partner Neal Pionk up for a perfect redirection play. Dillon's shot-pass was put home by Pionk for his third of the season, knotting things up at ones early.
Then it was Iafallo, who stayed hot with his second goal in three games, as he followed up a Cole Perfetti chance to score his seventh on a rebound marker with 10:47 to play.
The Jets' two goals put them ahead of Tampa entering the third period, but they trailed 25-15 on the shot chart as the final frame began.
The third period did feature two Jets power plays, but Winnipeg wasn't able to put the visitors away on either man advantage.
It took until just 4:47 remained on the clock for Ehlers to strike from in tight. With the puck loose atop the Bolts' crease, Vladislav Namestnikov out-hustled Vasilevskiy to the disc and found Ehlers for his second helper of the night, as the speedy forward put his 12th of the season past Vasilevskiy and into the yawning cage.
“I just tried to take as much room away, I guess," Namestnikov said. "He’s on his forehand and there’s a lot of bodies in front, and luckily it hit me. From there I just had to make a play.”
Until that point, Winnipeg had held Tampa to just two shots in 15 minutes of action.
Morgan Barron sealed the deal with an empty-netter with 2:07 left, firing the puck into the open net, off a pass from Dominic Toninato, who extended his season-opening point streak to four games.
Kucherov got a late one for the visitors in garbage time, cutting Winnipeg's lead in half, but that was as close as Tampa would come, as the Jets shut it down in the final 38 seconds.
Hellebuyck ended up with 33 saves on the 35 shots he faced, while Vasilevskiy made 23 stops on the 26 Jets shots fired his way on the evening.
“It’s always nice to play with some really, really elite goalies," said Namestnikov. "I think they displayed that today. They both made some huge saves.”
Next up for Winnipeg is the annual fathers trip through California, as Winnipeg hits San Jose, Anaheim and Arizona as the week wears on.
“Just staying with the process," Namestnikov added, when asked how he is able to ride the highs and lows. "Tomorrow is new day, come practice. There is things that we can clean up while watching the video and then correct it and move on. There’s not much to it.”
