Jets triumph over Lightning in 5-4 OT thriller

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/12/2018 (1959 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets will take the puck on Mark Scheifele’s stick every time in a “last-shot-wins” scenario — particularly when there’s a golden opportunity to knock out an NHL heavyweight.

 The team’s No. 1 centre fired the winner — AGAIN — with just 41.4 seconds left in overtime to propel the Jets to a 5-4 triumph over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning in a playoff-style thriller Sunday night. 

It was the third OT goal of the month for Scheifele, who has now scored 21 times this season and is fifth in the NHL points race (46). Late in the three-on-three session, Patrik Laine drove to the net, the puck bounced free and Scheifele slammed home the rebound.

Somehow, the young Finn wasn’t credited with an assist on the play, although goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy poke-checked the puck from him. But Scheifele recognized the brute force Laine, dog-tired on the play — demonstrated to push the puck toward the sensational Lightning netminder.

“It was great. It was a great take. I would have been happy either way, if he put it in or I put it in. So, it was a great take by him and a good play by (Dustin Byfuglien) as well,” said Scheifele. 

Byfuglien stopped the puck from exiting the zone and fed Laine. Neither was credited with a point for their efforts, causing some angst in the Jets dressing room, but didn’t ruin the celebration.

“It’s obviously huge to come back and stay with the game plan. We’ve had some confidence here three-on-three so it was nice to get rewarded,” said captain Blake Wheeler. “It was a heck of a job by Patty, taking that puck hard to the net, and if you leave Scheif alone right there, he’s gonna bury it. He’s playing as well as anyone right now and coming up huge when we need him.”

Scheifele also added two assists. He had the primary helper on Nikolaj Ehlers’ game-tying tally with just over five minutes left in regulation time.

The Jets, 22-9-2, are back atop the Western Conference and have won five straight — including the last three coming in overtime — and nine of their last 10. It was the team’s final home game before the holiday season. Indeed, fans can thank an early gift from the NHL schedule-maker that just kept on giving at Bell MTS Place.

“He’s a hell of a three-on-three player. He’s the type of guy, with time and space, regardless if it’s five-on-five, or three-on-three, he’s gonna make you play,” said Wheeler. “He’s got a knack for finding those holes, jumping into those spaces. Tonight was just another instance of him being patient, waiting for that play to develop and then the puck always seems to find good players.”

Plenty of Grade-A scoring chances? Check. Solid goaltending from a pair of 2018 Vezina Trophy finalists? Double check!

Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice had no major complaints, despite the time and space lethal shooters such as Steve Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson were allowed during points in the game.

“Yeah, you’re a fan of the game, too. It’s a lot more fun than the pucks that never get moved or the chances that never get made. You’ve got a nine-goal game where both goalies made some great, great saves and an awful lot of talent,” said Maurice. 

“If you carve that game up, you’re going to find 20 solid chances by each team. It might have looked loose but it wasn’t an effort issue. There’s some really good offensive players on both teams that created some holes and some seams and found plays back door not every team in the league can do.”

High-flying Tampa Bay (25-7-2), which had its eight-game winning streak snapped, recorded a whopping 86 total shot attempts. Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck blocked 43 drives.

Vasilevskiy, in just his second start after missing 14 games with fractured foot, was acrobatic and effective, putting in a 37-save performance.

The Jets trailed 4-3 in the third period but Ehlers scored his second goal of the game with 5:37 left in regulation time. Scheifele missed the net from point-blank range but the Danish speedster picked up the carom off the boards and buried it for his 12th of the season.

Ehlers admitted the mid-December clash had a post-season feel to it.

“For sure, a little bit. It’s two teams that play a similar game and that showed. I mean, OT, and I think we played a good game. We played hard, we played fast, we kept it together, and that’s how we need to continue,” he said.

“They’ve got a great team over there. They can pass that puck around a lot and they did that tonight, a little too much than we wanted it to. But I think it went both ways and we gotta try to find a way to minimize their time in our zone.”

Kucherov’s power-play goal at 6:55 of the final frame broke a 3-3 tie. The Jets took a rather untimely too-many-men minor penalty, and his one-timer off a pass from Stamkos found a tiny gap between Hellebuyck’s pad and the near post.

Winnipeg lost some points in overtime last year but is 5-1 this season in the extra frame.

“I think we’ve gotten better at it. The players we put out on the ice are a year older. Think how important Josh Morrissey’s been, Patty Laine’s been, and all of these guys have had a hand in some overtime success. They’re older at it, they’re better, and there is a different mentality. It’s all about competing and winning games,” said Maurice.

The Lightning were two-for-two with the man advantage. Mathieu Perreault scored a power-play tally in the first period for Winnipeg, while Brandon Tanev added a goal in the second.

Perreault, a 10-year veteran is on a tear, scoring in four straight games to raise his season total to seven.

Alex Killorn, Stamkos and Johnson replied for Tampa Bay.

The Jets head out for three games against Pacific Division teams, starting in Los Angeles on Tuesday against the last-place Kings. They meet the San Jose Sharks Thursday and finish up Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell