JETS DOMINANT IN GAME 2 VICTORY
Winnipeg wins twice on home ice to take 2-0 series lead over Wild,
JETS 4, WILD 1
That’s what holding serve looks like.
The Winnipeg Jets played a mostly suffocating style of defence and got goals from Tyler Myers, Paul Stastny, Andrew Copp and Patrik Laine in a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Friday night before a crowd of 15,000-plus at Bell MTS Place.
Zach Parise spoiled the shutout bid for Connor Hellebuyck with a power-play goal that came with 44.8 seconds left in the game.
With the victory, the Jets take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven opening-round matchup.
Game 3 goes Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
The Jets find themselves in unfamiliar territory, holding a 2-0 series advantage, while the Wild have lost eight consecutive Game 2 matchups.
The one thing the Wild have going for them is they suffered the fewest regulation losses on home ice (six) this season.
Myers got the Jets going with a brilliant individual effort, walking around Wild forward Jason Zucker and moving in before scoring on a wrister to the blocker side.
Stastny, one of the most important trade deadline acquisitions for any team in the NHL, got loose in front of the net and buried a pass from Dustin Byfuglien at 7:42 of the third period.
Less than two minutes later, Copp redirected home a pass from Bryan Little to give the Jets some valuable insurance.
For the second consecutive game, Byfuglien was engaged physically and delivered a bonejarring hit, this one on Wild captain Mikko Koivu.
In Game 1, Byfuglien crushed Wild centre Joel Eriksson Ek.
The Wild were unable to generate much offensively during the final two periods, as they were limited to only five shots on goal in the second and then didn’t record a single shot on goal for more than 15 minutes to start the third.
With forward Mathieu Perreault unavailable after suffering an upper-body injury in the second period of the series opener, the Jets inserted Jack Roslovic into the lineup.
“Ever since the first time I came out of the lineup, the goal was to be ready whenever I got my name called,” Roslovic said after the morning skate. “It’s going to be good. I watched (Game 1) from upstairs. You could feel the energy in the building. I was talking to (Jets forward Matt Hendricks) about it and he said it was almost a little bit more suspenseful and a little bit more pressure watching up top. Hopefully, (playing) will be a little easier.”
Roslovic, who had five goals and 14 points in 31 games during the regular season, became the ninth player on the Jets roster to make his Stanley Cup playoff debut.
After starting the game on a line with Little and Joel Armia, Armia was moved onto a line with Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev.
That moved Copp to the unit with Little and Roslovic.
After contributing two goals and four points in his final two games of the regular season, Roslovic made an immediate impact offensively in his first playoff action, chipping in a pair of assists.
Not having Perreault is a significant loss for the Jets, but battling through injuries has been fairly commonplace for the team this season.
“We’ve relied on our depth all year. It’s been the strength of our team and we feel very fortunate, with the amount of bodies that we have that can fill in and be effective,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler.
“We certainly miss the guys that have been hurt, but it’s always a great opportunity for guys to step into the lineup. Typically, we see a guy step in and they bring a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. Sometimes it’s a good shot in the arm for the group.”
For the Wild, Devan Dubnyk has done everything in his power to provide the type of goaltending required to try and steal a game on the road.
After making 37 stops in the series opener, he had 39 more in Game 2.
“We’ve needed him, but he’s dialed in,” said Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau. “Everything he was seeing he was stopping. We count on him as any team counts on their goaltenders if they want to make any kind of run ... We’re no different.”
Unlike Game 1, when the Jets used the top line of Mark Scheifele, Wheeler and Kyle Connor against the Wild line of Eric Staal, Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter, head coach Paul Maurice decided to play the Lowry unit against Staal for the most part Friday night.
The results were the same, as Staal’s line has been held off the board through the first two games of the series.
On the injury front, Hendricks has been cleared for contact, but still needs to be cleared by the doctor to return to game action.
The only injury news provided by Maurice on Friday was that defenceman Toby Enstrom (out with an ankle injury) has been back on the ice recently as he works toward returning to the lineup.