The Winnipeg Jets win second straight game in the resounding 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road Friday night. The victory was lead by a balanced effort from their offence with each of the top three forward lines contributing a goal.
The Jets started off the game with all the momentum they had generated from their 6-3 win over the Panthers on Tuesday. They pressured the Penguins early and it lead to a quicker response than even they may have expected.
Mason Appleton and the Jets impactful third line made their presence felt early in the first two minutes of the game as he chased after Marcus Pettersson, who was closing in on the puck.
The early aggression lead to a costly turnover and Adam Lowry frees up the puck in front of the net for Nino Niederreiter, who makes a quick move and beats Jarry for the first goal of the game.
They continued to maintain pressure with two more scoring chances by Kyle Connor and Rasmus Kupari but were swiftly saved by Jarry.
It wasn’t until almost seven minutes into the game before the Penguins could even manage to get a shot on net as they were ruthlessly pursued by a hungry Jets team.
The second period started off much of the same with the Jets outfiring the Penguins with five shots to none in the first six minutes.
Winnipeg’s Vladislav Namestnikov continued the Jets onslaught when taking a quick shot on Jarry from the faceoff dot, which he follows up with an uncontested second shot on the rebound. He buries the follow up for the Jets second goal and the 2-0 lead.
Things turned from bad to worse when a Evgeni Malkin penalty in the dying minutes gives the Jets the chance to extend their lead further on the power play.
They work the puck around until Connor finds an open Gabe Vilardi in the centre of the slot who takes a quick shot and beats Jarry high for an easy goal, making it 3-0 for Winnipeg after two periods.
Pittsburgh struggled to make Winnipeg feel any kind of pressure after two periods as they managed just five shots in the second.
This was far behind Winnipeg’s 13 shots in the period, which tied the Penguins total shot numbers up until that point in the game. Pittsburgh could barely generate any scoring chances with three high-danger and three mid-range shots on net.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby attempted to get his team some momentum by challenging Connor to a fight after he didn’t like a reverse hit and Connor obliged as the two traded a couple punches before being broken up by officials.
It didn’t work as the captain intended as the Penguins recorded just one shot on net in the first five minutes of the third period. Slow starts in each period plagued Pittsburgh in this one as they started flat in the early minutes of all three periods with almost no shots or scoring opportunities.
They eventually broke the ice when the Penguins were on the power play and Bryan Rust comes out of a corner puck battle with the biscuit and finds himself with a two-on-one opportunity. He dishes the puck across to Michael Bunting for an easy tap in goal to cut the deficit to two.
It was all the Penguins could muster up as they pulled their goalie with two minutes left but couldn’t find the back of the net as they allowed an easy Connor empty net goal as the Jets sealed their 17th win of the season.
Winnipeg netminder Connor Hellebuyck wasn’t asked to do much as he made 18 saves on 19 shots and recorded his 14th win on the season. Forward Kyle Connor had a big game with a goal and an assist for his seventh multi-point game of the season.
The Penguins will look to rebound from the loss when taking on the Utah Hockey Club Saturday and the Jets look to win their third straight game when traveling to the Music City to take on the Predators. It’ll be very tough to win back-to-back road games but this historic Jets team makes anything look possible at this point.
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