Jets snatch victory from jaws of defeat – Winnipeg Free Press


SEATTLE — Blake Wheeler no longer wears a letter on his sweater. But the former Winnipeg Jets captain showed Sunday night he’s still got plenty of leadership qualities to his game.

With his team down a goal to the Seattle Kraken and on the verge of suffering a second straight loss, Wheeler picked the perfect time to hit a major milestone. He poked home a loose puck during a frantic net-front scramble with only five seconds left in regulation, scoring his fourth of the year and 300th of his career.

“It was nice to just get a good bounce and get a reward,” the 36-year-old Wheeler said outside the locker room at Climate Pledge Arena. “I thought our team played well and it would have been a shame to leave here without getting anything so to push it to overtime was a good accomplishment for us.”



JOHN FROSCHAUER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey (44), left, celebrates with right wing Blake Wheeler (26) after scoring the winning goal against the Seattle Kraken during overtime period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday in Seattle.

With one improbable point in the bank, Winnipeg then went out and grabbed the second when Josh Morrissey fed Mark Scheifele for the winner just 54 seconds into the three-on-three session.

Just like that, they’d snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Winnipeg improves to 9-4-1 on the year, including 7-1-1 in the last nine games, and back into a first-place tie with Dallas in the Central Division. Seattle falls to 8-5-3.

“That’s why it’s 60 minutes,” said Scheifele. “Big goal for Wheels, what an accomplishment, his 300th goal to tie it with seconds left. That’s fantastic for him. That’s a resilient win after some tough travel.”

Head coach Rick Bowness was a a grateful man.

“I’m really happy for Blake Wheeler. That’s a huge, huge accomplishment. If you score 300 goals in this league, that’s a testament to his character and his longevity. I’m very, very happy for him,” he said.

Let’s break down all the action, shall we?

1) Winnipeg’s power play was a sore spot on Saturday, going 0-for-3 (with no shots!) and giving up a shorthanded game-winner to Calgary. But they finally found a way to get going one night later, and against a Seattle team that had been perfect on the kill for the month of November.

Scheifele scored his first of the game, and team-leading ninth of the year, midway through the second period to get his team back to 1-1 after Jordan Eberle opened the scoring in the first. And then Wheeler came through in the clutch. Officially, Winnipeg went 2-for-7.

“I think that’s the key is just not lose confidence in the power play,” said Wheeler.

“I mean, it’s such an important part of the game today, special teams, and if you have a tough night, the real blessing is that under 24 hours that way you get a chance to redeem yourself. I thought the guys stuck with it, did a great job, and scored a couple of big goals tonight.”



JOHN FROSCHAUER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Seattle Kraken right wing Oliver Bjorkstrand (22) watches his shot on goal with Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dylan Samberg (54) during the first period.

2) Wheeler’s goal no doubt felt extra rewarding given that he took three minor penalties, including a four-minute roughing infraction when Andre Burakovsky crushed Nate Schmidt from behind into the boards with no penalty call, and he came to his teammate’s defence. The Jets managed to kill that off, going 3-for-4 on the night overall.

3) We’ve said it before, and we will say it again: Dubois is a major shift disturber, a real pain in the glass when he’s on the ice.

Just look at his weekend: Saturday’s game involved coincidental penalties with Blake Coleman, who was then slapped with a $5,000 fine on Sunday for an undetected slew-foot against him. He also got shoved by Rasmus Andersson into goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who stuck out his leg to trip him.

On Sunday, Dubois was involved in numerous scrums, making new enemies pretty much every shift. The slug to the back of the head he took from Soucy likely stung for a few seconds, but the pain subsided as soon as Wheeler scored the equalizer,

“He’s a big man and you’re right, he has that ability to upset the opposition. They know he’s out there. And he kept his cool,” Bowness said. “That’s just as important. If you want to get under their skin, that’s one thing. But you have to have that discipline not to retaliate and he didn’t and that’s huge.”

4) It’s always nice to see familiar faces — unless you’re the Jets. On Saturday, former Jets forward Trevor Lewis had the game-winner. And it looked like Brandon Tanev was going to be the hero on Sunday when the ex-member of the “TLC” (Tanev, Adam Lowry, Andrew Copp) put the Kraken up 2-1 at 7:02 of the 3rd.

Wheeler and Scheifele ensured that storyline went away.

“A tough one last night, tough travel getting here late, a 5 o’clock start, it’s a tough game to play,” said Scheifele.

“It shows the character in this room. We gave it our all, played hard, we were on the forecheck. I don’t think many guys had their legs for most of the night. It’s a tough one for that sense, but guys grinded each and every shift. We have a very resilient, character driven group.”



JOHN FROSCHAUER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Winnipeg Jets center David Gustafsson (19) flips over the back of Seattle Krakencenter Jaden Schwartz (17) during the first period.

5) Morrissey continues to rack up the points at an impressive rate, with three more helpers this weekend. He’s now going 14 assists in 14 games, along with a goal, to lead Winnipeg in scoring.

“What a fantastic pass from J-Mo. I don’t know what he was doing with his little celebration after it, but it was an amazing pass by him, and I was lucky to be there,” Scheifele said of the set-up on his overtime winner.

Morrissey’s career-high is 26 assists, so he’s already more than halfway there. He’s definitely playing a big role in Bowness’ new aggressive, up-tempo approach that gets the defencemen more involved.

6) The Jets will enjoy a day off Monday, then return to the practice ice on Tuesday ahead of a three-game homestand beginning Thursday with the Anaheim Ducks in town.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg

Mike McIntyre

Mike McIntyre
Sports columnist

Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when that dream fizzled, he put all his brawn into becoming a professional writer.



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