Pavelec steers clear of praise

WINNIPEG — The man responsible for one of the more memorable moments of the Winnipeg Jets season had no interest in looking back.

Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec’s 50-save performance in Tuesday’s night overtime loss was still on the mind of most hanging around MTS Centre Wednesday morning, and why not?

He almost single-handedly won the game for Winnipeg, turning aside waves and waves of Philadelphia pressure until they finally broke through with just seconds left on the clock in regulation time.

A sombre Pavelec wasn’t too keen on discussing his play or where he would rank that outing in his personal top 10 list. On Wednesday he talked quietly and carefully, quickly adjusting any spotlight away from himself and onto the group that plays in front of him.

“It’s a team sport. It’s about the win,” he said. “... It doesn’t matter how I play. I was really disappointed that we didn’t get the win.”

While Pavelec tried to deflect attention, others had no problem heaping praise on the goaltender after Tuesday’s effort.

“We’ve seen it the last two years how well he can play and how he can have a great impact on the outcome of games,” Jets captain Andrew Ladd said. “It’s kind of like [Miikka] Kiprusoff in Calgary, you just feel confident having him back there. If you make a mistake, you know he’s going to bail you out.”